City Girls and Small Town Boys
by MissGoalie75
Summary: A city girl is forcibly plopped into suburbia, where she'll learn a thing or two about life, death, love…you know, the usual.
1. 01: Defiant

A/N: I wrote this chapter for an RK_Challenge on LJ, but then the wheels started turning in my head and started to flesh out the characters. Here is a multi-chapter story, but it's inspired much like my collection of oneshots, except each chapter is related, creating a cohesive story. There will be 30 updates in all. Perhaps 31, if I decide to do an epilogue of sorts.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

City Girls and Small Town Boys

**01: Defiant**

Kaoru Kamiya is not appropriately dressed for this middle-of-nowhere, _public _school. She shouldn't be wearing tons of jewelry and pounds of makeup; she certainly shouldn't be wearing knee-high boots with a five-inch heel and she most _definitely_ shouldn't be wearing a dress that barely falls mid-thigh.

She looks like she would fit into a hole-in-the-wall nightclub in the city, about to step on stage and sing in a glam-grunge band, _not_ a Calculus class.

She doesn't pay attention to the whispers around her; she wonders if it's just because her clothes stand out: expensive, too black, glamorous, or if it's because they know why she's here.

Not that these hicks know why she's _really_ here, but they have a vague idea. No doubt her mother bitched enough about her coming to live with her.

She grabs a seat in the back and crosses her legs and slouches in her chair, somehow managing to look classy. When her Calculus teacher enters the classroom and notices Kaoru, her lips purse into a thin white line.

_Someone needs lip enhancement, big time._

"Kaoru Kamiya?"

Kaoru looks up, not bothering to be respectful.

"I don't know how things are done in the _big city_, but _here_ we have a dress code."

Kaoru rolls her eyes. "I thought the whole _perk_ of public school was _not having_ a dress code."

"We have certain rules of _propriety_."

Kaoru glares at the woman. Call her a bitch, call her _anything_, but _don't_ insinuate her being a slut.

"If you're telling _me_ that I'm not dressed _appropriately_, then why don't you tell off Miss_ Tits_ next to me."

The girl in question, wearing a low cut top that does show quite a bit of cleavage, huffs in indignation.

"Do you really want to start your first day in the principal's office?"

"It's a lot nicer than this classroom," Kaoru says nonchalantly, standing up and heading towards the door.

When she hears that unmistakable sound of someone trying to keep his laughter at bay, she whips her head around to see a boy with bright red hair in the back row, his amber eyes alight with humor, a smirk on his face.

At least _someone_ is aware that they're sitting in old-fashioned table-desks with pealing wallpaper. Oh, and that their teacher is a _bitch_.

"Kenshin, would you like to join her?" the teacher inquired in a tone that indicated that this isn't the first time this boy has caused a disturbance.

"Nope."

She rolls her eyes as she exits the classroom; that whole "bad boy" thing is such a cliché.

Especially after keeping company with_ real _bad boys.

She struts down the empty halls feeling like this is a really bad fucking nightmare. But she can't go back to the city, no matter how much she wants to. Not after what happened.

The main office is empty, save for her elderly principal and a rather attractive secretary; they're clearly flirting as his eyes flicker from her chest to her eyes while she giggles and pretends to blush.

Kaoru internally grins as she adjusts her little black dress, making sure she looks perfect (not that she never does). There's no way she's going to be changing her outfit today, or _any day_ for that matter.

* * *

A/N: I think in the beginning, the chapters will be a bit on the short side, but some will be longer, I promise.

Please review!

MissGoalie


	2. 26: Writer

A/N: Thank you for all the positive responses! I hope you enjoy what's to come.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**026: Writer's Choice**

"_You want one?"_

_Kaoru, at fourteen, stared at the cigarette with a hint of disgust. She paid attention in health class – she knew the effects. But Yumi Komagata was _actually_ paying attention to her._

_There was only one right answer._

"_Yeah."_

_When Kaoru coughed (how typical), Yumi laughed her tinkling laugh, embarrassing Kaoru to no end. But after the second drag, impressively done, apparently, she's asked if she had any plans this weekend._

_She did, but obviously said no._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru is smoking in the courtyard during her free period because she has nothing else to do.

The first days of school never have homework, so she's left with very little things to complete. Although she was assigned a paper in history yesterday…but she wrote one last year on the same topic, so she thinks she'll just edit it a bit and change the teacher and date before handing it in.

She's halfway through her cigarette before it's plucked out of her fingers.

"What the _fuck_?" She whips her head around to find a very predatory-looking teacher holding her cigarette.

What the fuck.

"No smoking on school grounds," he informs her.

She scoffs. "I'm outside," she says, as if it explains everything, which it _does_.

"You may be, but it's illegal to smoke on school _property_, which this courtyard is."

She clenches her teeth. Can this school be anymore _retarded_? She was allowed to do this at her _old school_.

Then to her horror and complete annoyance, he takes a long drag off her cigarette before squishing it under his shoe. _Ew._

"I'll also have to confiscate your pack."

She stares at him.

"If you hand it over, I may lessen your punishment."

She looks away from him. "Fine. I'm not giving it up. It's my last one."

To her surprise, he chuckles. "Fine. Give me half and I'll let you off with a detention."

She rolls her eyes. "How is that fair?"

"Because normally we'd give over a week's detention. Take it or leave it."

Without looking at him, she reaches into the pocket of her dress and slowly takes out nine. What a waste.

He grins rather wolfishly before taking the cigarettes and adding them to his own pack. She wants to tell him to fuck himself, but she kind of respects the guy, at least a little.

"You'll serve detention after school in the library," he informs her.

She doesn't acknowledge him and simply waits for him to fuck off and leave her alone.

As soon as she hears him leave, she hears, "He definitely likes you."

She doesn't bother turning around.

"When he caught me smoking he gave me a month's detention and I was just on the edge of the soccer fields."

She rolls her eyes.

"Ah, yes, ignore me. Pretend that I'm scum beneath your Chanel shoes."

She gives him a highly affronted look. "They're _Jimmy Choos_."

"Like I give a shit."

She hates him. She really hates this random ginger kid who sits in the back of classrooms, acting like he's such a rebel.

"Just so you know, if you want to smoke, you're better off parking your car in the south lot and doing it there," he informs her before crossing the courtyard to enter another wing of the school.

"Thanks," she finds herself saying.

He doesn't say anything back, annoying her again.

This school is just so fucking irritating. And she really wants a cigarette. Ugh.

* * *

_Kaoru spotted her. She reminded her of herself when she was a stupid freshman: naïve, scared, and oh-so easily manipulated. She was curious to see if this girl had what it took to raise to the elite._

"_You want one?" she asked the girl, who actually jumped at being directly addressed. Aw, how cute._

_With shaking fingertips, the girl plucked a cigarette from the pack._

_When the girl coughed, Kaoru smiled a twisted one. It was nice being in this position._

**

* * *

**

A/N: So, the shorter the updates, the shorter amount of time between them. That's fair, yes? :)

Please review!

MissGoalie


	3. 27: Writer

A/N: I actually can't thank you enough for your reviews despite the short chapter =)

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**27: Writer's Choice**

_For all Kaoru's life, she had only sat in the backs of private cars and limousines. Her family's personal driver, Katsura, was _always_ available with a push of a button. It was the only way to get around this city._

_Anything else was simply unacceptable._

_

* * *

_

"Mom, I need a ride," Kaoru tells her mother, holding her phone to her ear at the front of the deserted school.

"_And I want a Birkin bag. You can't always get what you want._"

Kaoru has to force herself from making a snide comment about owning one, but she (stupidly) left it in New York. How she misses that bag – it's like her baby…

"How am I supposed to get to the house?" Kaoru retorts, annoyed.

"_Well, you should've thought of that before getting detention. I can't drive you until my shift is done at eight._"

"That's _three hours_ from now!"

"_Tough. Walk home. It's only two miles._"

Kaoru allows herself to gape into the phone since no one is around. "Ex_cuse_ me, but I'm wearing _Jimmy Choos_. They're not meant for _walking_."

She hears her mother snort on the other line, which really irritates her. "_Again, should've thought of that before getting a detention. Call me when you get home_." With that she hangs up.

Kaoru chucks her phone into her bag, fuming. Great, just _great_.

She supposes she could call a town car…_ugh_. No way. The drivers are creepers who will take you into the middle of the woods and rape you.

The bus doesn't even cross her mind because that's not an option.

But she _really_ doesn't want to _wait for her mommy _to get her.

This sucks. She hates this.

"Need a ride?"

She rolls her eyes. "Fuck off." Her upper lip twitches in distaste when she eyes his Japanese-brand car. _Yuck._

"Now that's not very nice."

"_Fous le camp_." There, that's nice.

"_Je le répète, ce n'est pas une chose très agréable à dire_," he says, the words rolling off his tongue so easily that she can't help but find it just a _little_ attractive.

But then she remembers that he's an annoying ginger.

She raises an eyebrow at him. "Why aren't you in my French class?" she asks out of curiosity. She's sure that she's in the highest level…

"Because there's _one more_ level above yours, _chérie_."

_Bastards_ – they thought her class in private school wasn't equal the highest offered level of French in this dump? Fuck that shit. She'll complain about that tomorrow.

"Just leave me alone."

"I just offered you a ride."

"Thanks, but no thanks."

"Are you sure? You don't live too far from me."

"Stalk me much?"

"You wish. This town is small – you know where _everyone_ lives."

"Just go play your guitar on a porch or smoke on a street corner alone."

He smirks in amusement. "Sorry to ruin your fantasy, but I don't play the guitar."

"I don't give a flying fuck. Get out of my face and pretend to be the _bad boy_ we all know you're not."

"Fine. Good luck getting home," he says dismissively before speeding out of the parking lot.

"Stupid fuck," she mutters, crossing her arms.

Everyone at this school leaves her alone (including the teachers, who have all tried to kick her out for her ensembles, but the principal enjoys them too much to let her change), why can't this prick?

"Uh, hello?"

She whips her head, ready to bite off the head of the next guy when she sees Akira Kiyosato in a black BMW, his face giving away his nervousness.

This kid's in her Lit class, she thinks. She doesn't remember him saying anything stupid in class, so she doesn't hate him yet.

She raises her eyebrows at him.

"Uh, I was just…wondering if you maybe wanted a ride. Not to sound like a total creeper, but I have to pass by your house when I come home from school…so…" he trails off.

She tilts her head to the side a little in thought. He seems to be okay – she knows for sure he won't try anything on her, if his avoiding her direct eye gaze means anything.

"Sure."

The first time he looks her in the eye, she can't help but admire them. They're such a comforting shade of brown, like milk chocolate. And they're expressive – he's so easily read.

Besides, his car is German, which is acceptable.

She's about to get into the backseat when he asks, rather than tells her, "Uh…you could sit in the front?"

Her nose twitches for a moment before hesitantly slipping into the front seat.

She feels like a peasant girl or something.

"Okay," he says under his breath before easing out of the school grounds.

Her turns his iPod off and switches to the radio, keeping it low enough to have a conversation, but loud enough so you could avoid having it, if desired.

She picks up his iPod to see what he was listening to that he was embarrassed about.

Her eyes widen.

"You know this band?"

He quickly glances at his iPod before nodding. "Well…yeah. It's on my iPod."

She ignores his sad attempt at humor because this is actually kind of weird. "My brother really likes them. Traveled around with them for this album."

He makes a strange choking sound. "Really? I'm so jealous!" he says, trying to keep calm, but he's clearly excited.

She thinks it's kind of cute.

She plugs his iPod back in so they could listen together.

He's humming to the song and drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, unable to control himself. She smiles a little.

* * *

_The first time she was alone with him was after Sano's crazy eighteenth birthday. She was fifteen, going on sixteen, and she was _incredibly_ drunk._

_She couldn't find her phone and she just _had_ to call Katsura to bring her home. What to do, what to do…_

_He found her leaning against the wall, trying to stay awake._

_He gently held her up and took her home in his own car. Her knight in shining Armani. Or was he wearing Valentino that night? Whatever._

_The fact of the matter was that moment started it all._

* * *

A/N: Have I thrown some people off yet? I know some of you were already imagining where the plot is going ~_^

Please review!

MissGoalie


	4. 11: Evidence

A/N:

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**11: Evidence**

_Kaoru Kamiya, as far as she was concerned, only had three family members: her mom (who barely counted anymore ever since she walked out), her dad, and Sano. No cousins, aunts, uncles…nobody._

_She thought she didn't get anything from her parents besides their good looks, which she supposed was all that really mattered._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru doesn't give a shit about her grandmother who's halfway through death's door, but her mom is forcing her to pretend to care, which is just as bad, if not worse, in her opinion.

Seriously, leave the old woman alone – she doesn't need or want fake sympathy or whatever. Or at least that's how Kaoru would feel if she were _eighty-eight-fucking-years-old_, which is never going to happen, at least if she has a say on the matter.

Kaoru doesn't like old people. They freak her out. They remind her that one day, if God (or whatever higher being, if one existed) were feeling torturous, she'll look like that one day. She'd rather die.

Alphaville had it right – _I want to be forever young._

The ride to the home is long and awkward. Kaoru wishes she brought her iPod, but she didn't know that her mother could be the _slowest driver on the planet_.

"Excuse me, but do you think I have all day? Why are you going the _speed limit_?" Kaoru demands after ten minutes of going fifty-five miles-an-hour on the _highway_ because nobody actually goes that slow voluntarily.

"There's no need to rush, stop complaining. We'll be there in five minutes."

Kaoru turns her head so her mother wouldn't see the look of pure frustration on her face.

It actually takes them _eight_ minutes to get to the home, which actually isn't half bad; she was expecting the worst. Honestly, if she were _eighty-eight-fucking-years-old_, she would want the best place imaginable before kicking the bucket, but this is fine for _upper middle class_.

Kaoru wonders why the hell anyone would give up being part of society's elite for _this_.

"She's on the second floor," her mother says, which Kaoru doesn't respond to because they're currently sharing an elevator with an elderly man with too much flabby skin.

She may have to vomit twice before this visit is over.

Her mother rings the doorbell to room 206.

"The door's open!"

Her mother walks in first with Kaoru trailing reluctantly behind.

For an old lady of over eighty with a failing body, she looks good. Her hair is still salt and pepper, her wrinkles give her character, and her eyes, shining sapphires, are eerily similar to Kaoru's.

She never knew where her blue eyes came from – her parents both have brown eyes.

"So, this is my granddaughter," her grandma states, staring at Kaoru. "She dresses like a whore."

Kaoru narrows her eyes. "It's better than shapeless pantsuits from Target," she retorts.

"Kaoru!" her mother interjects.

To their surprise, her grandma smiles. "You're right – these clothes are quite awful."

"I bought them," her mother states, hurt.

"And mine are being dry cleaned. The service here is just awful. It was supposed to be done _five days ago_. What am I paying them for?"

Kaoru smiles. She likes her.

* * *

_Kaoru's mother's grandparents were never mentioned for some reason. Dad always talked about his parents, but Mom never talked about hers; Kaoru didn't know if they were dead or alive. One day, after Mom ran off, she asked Dad about her maternal grandparents._

"_Your grandpa died before you were born. Your grandma is still alive upstate – she's a remarkable woman. Your mother would've done to learn from her."_

_If that was the case, then why didn't she live in the city, too?_

_

* * *

_

A/N: Still introducing some major characters - sorry about the lack of Kenshin!

Please review!

MissGoalie


	5. 25: Hero

A/N: I believe I will have one more update after this before the New Year - I'm going away for the last week of December and there will be no updates then. Just so you know!

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**25: Hero**

_Sano never liked Kaoru's desire to be part of the elite, elite (they were automatically part of the elite – this was a different class altogether), but he didn't stop her, which she appreciated. The protective older brother role got old fast._

_And she never admitted it, but sometimes she rather liked it – he was the one person she knew would definitely always have her back._

_

* * *

_

After one month in this hellhole of a town and she genuinely misses seeing her rooster-head of a brother. They text often, talk on the phone at least once a week, but it's not enough. Not that she would ever be open about that.

But it doesn't stop her from asking if he's free on Sunday for a video chat session.

_Yea np tty then._

She hates how he's so grammatically incorrect in his texts, but whatever.

It's not like she's texting anybody else these days.

She's reading her fourth book in French before her scheduled session with Sano and she wonders how hellish her life is these days. A few weeks ago, she was drowning herself in alcohol and music in Europe.

Now she's stuck in middle class suburbia, reduced to such boredom that she's _reading_. In a _different language_.

It couldn't be three fast enough.

She signs on and thankfully he's already on, but she waits a minute or two for him to connect.

Suddenly she can see him and her chest tightens a bit.

"Hey," she says casually, a hint of a smile on her face.

"Hey," he says back, those glasses that somehow make him look smarter than he is slipping down the bridge of nose as he stares down at his computer. "Did you get your permit?"

"Yeah, I did," she says, shrugging her shoulders. "It was easy."

"Yeah, we'll see when you actually start driving," he comments with a snigger.

She glares at him.

"Maybe when you graduate you can take over Katsura's job."

"Yeah, fuck you. It's the only way to get around this godforsaken town."

"Are you gonna learn in a jalopy?"

Now she's wondering why she bothered with this.

The he gets serious, opens his mouth, and then closes it.

"Spit it out," she demands lazily.

"Do you have any friends?"

She smiles bitterly. "Since when had I ever had any of those?"

He doesn't say anything, which hurts her more than she thought. But she brushes it aside. Whatever. She wouldn't want to be friends with these mental patients.

"Dad's sorry he couldn't be here. Next time."

She nods. "Right."

It's too awkward to continue.

"Well, I have to go. Finish this goddamn paper. I'll talk to you soon."

"Bye."

He logs off first. She hates it when she isn't quick enough.

* * *

"_Why did you have go and RUN YOUR FUCKING MOUTH?" Sano yelled, stomping into her bedroom as she was applying mascara._

_She calmly turned to stare at him, but froze when she realized how _livid_ he was. Yeah, she had done plenty of things to piss him off, but this was something different._

_He was yelling and screaming and saying things that he _never_ said to her before. It was cold, heartless, and just not Sano._

_That was supposed to be her._

_After that confrontation, she went to the only person who ever seemed to give a shit about her these days._

**

* * *

**

A/N: Thank you for all your reviews/alerts, etc! You guys are awesome!

Please review!

MissGoalie


	6. 06: Prowl

A/N: I realized that maybe I should update this story as well before I go away – I keep forgetting that I'm working on three projects instead of two *headdesk*.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**06: Prowl**

_It was official: she _liked, liked_ Shishio Makoto. The issue at hand: how to break him and Yumi up. It would be difficult – those two had been on and off for years; they were an epic love story of the Upper East Side._

_Kaoru planned on changing that._

_

* * *

_

Okay, she tried to ignore it, but she can't any longer: Akira is probably the cutest thing she's ever seen.

He's just so _nice_. She doesn't understand it. And _genuine_, something that's so hard to come by these days. It's certainly a rarity in the city.

It's just a shame he has a girlfriend. Or, at least, in secret.

It didn't take that long for her to figure out that Tomoe Yukishiro and Akira have a _thing_, even if they don't openly act like a _thing_. She wonders if everyone else is completely blind, or if they just ignore it.

That bit of confusion was quickly settled when she saw Enishi, Tomoe's twin, shoving Akira into the lockers for no good reason.

Ignoring it then, okay.

This game is familiar; she knows the stakes. But it's less intense in a way – these people aren't constantly on their guard and thus, they're easily manipulated.

This project certainly won't take over a year of delicate planning; give her a few months.

So, phase one, _go_.

* * *

"Hey, Akira. I have a favor…" she starts, turning her body to face him after their Lit teacher left the room to get a new marker for the whiteboard.

He swallows. "Yeah?"

"Since I got my permit, I need to practice driving. I was hoping that you could be my teacher?"

His eyes widen and she wonders if she's pushing her sexuality a bit much for him. After all, he's still an innocent.

"I-I can't. I'm sorry."

She tilts her head to the side in feigned innocence. "Are you afraid that you'll encroach on your secret time with Tomoe?"

His eyes bug out of his sockets, almost making her laugh.

"How did _you_ know?" he whispers, glancing around the classroom even though nobody is paying attention to them.

She rolls her eyes. "I find out everything. It's my forte."

He looks down at his hands. "Enishi _can't_ find out. He just can't. He'll kill me."

"I'm not going to tell that barbarian anything. How is he even a senior?"

"One of life's greatest mysteries," he admits.

She thinks about pushing more; she thinks she would be able to convince him. But then she wonders if this should be gone about a different way. Huh, she's never done this before – start with a plan and then decide to change tactics. It's very unprofessional of her, if a bit rusty. She thinks her time in Europe has made her dull.

"You know you need a person who's had a license for at least five years to accompany you on the road, right?"

She smiles at his nerd like tendencies. "Yes, but this would be in the high school parking lot," she answers, patting his cheek gently, causing him to turn a nice shade of pink.

"I can't. I'm sorry. I could help you study for your written test?" he offers.

"Maybe," she answers, turning her body to face the front of the class.

In the middle of class, she discreetly passes him a note that reads, _Your secret is safe with me xx_

He blushes but grins at her all the same.

In the meantime, she seriously has to find a driving instructor.

* * *

"You. I have a proposition."

Kenshin sighs dramatically. "I love it when you treat me like dirt."

She scoffs. "I need to practice driving and my mother doesn't have a lot of time."

"You want me to be your driving instructor."

She shrugs.

"Why should I do that?"

"I'll pay you."

"Oh, you will?"

"Yeah. You need money to fix your piece of shit car." That car seriously needs a new paint job among other things.

He brings a hand to his chest. "Don't insult my baby."

"Twenty bucks an hour."

"You're being cheap. I know you're worth a hell of a lot more than that."

"Well, I figured my company was worth a lot more as a bonus."

"You think very highly of yourself."

She cocks an eyebrow at him. "So?"

"Fine. Half hour after school. The parking lot should be relatively empty by then," he says, walking away from her.

Well, she got one thing accomplished today.

* * *

_This was it. Finally. After over a year, it was happening._

_She continued to lean in close to Shishio, thrilled. She always got what she wanted. Always._

_

* * *

_

A/N: I'm going away and won't update until the beginning of January...so happy holidays! And hopefully 2011 will be kick ass because 2010 left much to be desired, in my opinion.

Please review!

MissGoalie


	7. 13: Test

A/N: Hands up, who thinks 2011 is a totally weird year?

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**13: Test**

_She had been charged with cheating once and she was proven innocent, but the accusation always stuck with her._

_

* * *

_

This can't be happening again – it's such _bullshit_.

But here she is, sitting in the principal's office with her bitch of a math teacher standing by her left with her mother sitting on her right.

"This girl never pays attention in my class. There's no way she could've gotten a perfect score."

"Are you _serious_? _That's_ your _proof_? Maybe if you collected homework this week you would've noticed that all my answers were correct. I _learned_ this already," Kaoru explains exasperatingly. "Besides, I'm sitting next to Hyottoko and Chou, who are dumb as rocks, we all know that."

"Kaoru," her mother hisses in her ear.

"Hey, at least _I'm_ trying to defend myself. What are _you_ doing?"

"Look, Principal Kashiwazaki…is there any way to prove that my daughter didn't cheat on this test?" Kaoru's mother inquires and for a moment, Kaoru's grateful.

"I can interview her. See what she knows. If she seems to have an adequate grasp on the material then I'll let her keep the grade. But it has to be right now so she can't _prepare_," Kaoru's math teacher answers, preventing the principal from uttering a word.

"Fine," Kaoru says with a shrug before her mother can argue any further. "Do you want to do it in your office? In private? Or do you want to do it here in front of most of the staff and faculty? I'd do the latter just to show how _ignorant_ you really are," she continues, her tone becoming more acidic with every word.

"Kaoru!" her mother exclaims.

She ignores her mother and glares at her math teacher. "Well? Let's get started."

* * *

She's smoking in the south lot because she just _can't_ deal with people right now.

Somehow her math teacher managed to extend their "interview" for an entire class period-length of time. She's definitely not going to class tomorrow, that's for sure.

When she hears the click of a lighter, she turns her head to find Himura (how did he sneak up on her like that?) lighting his cigarette, which actually looks attractive, despite the hot pink lighter (or maybe because of it?). He doesn't seem to notice her as he stares into the distance.

She doesn't say anything and they smoke in silence.

By the time she finishes her cigarette, she feels a little better.

He flicks his stub into the bushes and exhales smoke through his mouth before turning back to the school.

She prefers him when he doesn't open his mouth.

* * *

_Kaoru Kamiya is what could be called an extremely gifted student. She finishes tests a lot earlier than most people, but makes sure she's one of the last people to hand them in. She mentally corrects people's grammar without thinking and attempts complicated math problems in her head._

_Her teachers never brought it up and the people she associated with never noticed._

_It was an asset, she convinced herself. Silent brilliance, everyone underestimates you._

_She pretended that it didn't bother her all the same._

_

* * *

_

A/N: So yeah, I'm back and I'm really happy to be in front of my computer because I missed it dearly. Anyway, get excited for future chapters because there will be a more cohesive storyline, I promise.

Please review!

MissGoalie


	8. 04: Friend

A/N: FFN has been a real bitch and a half lately - load your pages, damn it!

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**04: Friend**

_Kaoru had one friend when she was young: Misao Makimachi. They did everything together. They bonded for the first time when they were five when they both wore custom-made Herm__è__s ribbons (Misao's were green and Kaoru's were blue)._

_Misao was a really loyal friend. Even though they were eight years old and their only proof of loyalty was always saving a seat for each other at the lunch table and keeping your daily crush a secret, Kaoru knew that she was a truly good person._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru and Akira are paired up for a project, which she couldn't be happier about. She kind of wants to _wow_ him with her brains because he's definitely one of those guys who get turned on by a girl's book smarts, which she has plenty of since, _hello_, she's practically a prodigy.

"Saito never does group projects," Akira explains as the rubric for the project is passed along to everyone in the classroom, "And just as well because I heard he expects the world from everyone."

_So that means we're going to have to spend _plenty_ of time together_, Kaoru finishes her head, internally grinning at the thought.

She shrugs. "We've got this covered," she responds when she glances over her copy of the rubric. "I think we should do French authors because who doesn't appreciate _un peu d'action et de romance_?"

He chuckles. "Sure, as long as we don't read any of the books between _The Three Musketeers_ and _The Man in the Iron Mask_. Torturous."

This has never happened before, but she's rather attracted to his taste in literature. Ugh, so _dorky_. Maybe this is the new leaf that her father was hoping for her to turn over with sending her here.

Or maybe she's just improving her taste from Shishio, who hated anything that had to do with school. Yeah, she'll go with that.

* * *

It's their second week driving and she can finally drive smoothly without slamming on the break every two seconds.

It helps that she's not wearing her five-inch heels.

"You should really invest in a pair of flat shoes," Kenshin tells her, fiddling with his sound system, lowering the volume of a Japanese rock song that's part of a foreign songs mix (his musical tastes are very bizarre).

"I'm going to vomit," she states flatly. She doesn't know _what_ this guy's stepped in and gotten on the gas and break pedals. Even though she's wearing stockings, she still feels like something diseased is crawling all over her feet.

But at least she's not jerking the car anymore.

"Fine. I'll buy flat shoes."

"That a girl."

"You just want me to get caught breaking the law while driving."

"Myth."

"What?"

"It's perfectly legal to drive barefoot in the United States. And in Canada."

She looks over to him. "Really? I thought, like, California or something made it illegal."

"The one state where everyone already walks around barefoot? I think not."

She smiles the tiniest bit. Hardly there – it can easily be missed. "Fair point."

He checks his watch and she tries her best to smoothly slot park, but it's just so fucking _hard_. It looks so easy, too. She gets it right after backing out and straightening the car. Afterward, she turns off the ignition and holds out a hand expectantly.

He sighs, reluctantly reaches into his pocket, and pulls out his pack, handing her a cigarette before stepping out of the car. She puts on her heels before joining him.

They both light their respective cigarettes in silence.

"You do realize Akira has a girlfriend, right?" Kenshin inquires as he relights his cigarette after a particularly bad gust of wind blows his flame out.

"He does?" she replies with just the right amount of disbelief.

He suddenly smirks, making her just a hint uneasy. "I'm calling shenanigans on that. You knew." He shrugs. "I'm just clarifying."

She rolls her eyes at his stupid expression and his obvious bullshit. "Sure you were."

He catches her eye. "Tomoe and I used to be friends when we were younger and she's happy with Akira."

"Oh _God_. _Please_ don't tell me that you secretly love her after _all these years_."

He laughs. "No way. We haven't talked in _years_. Can't look me in the eye, actually. You'll notice it eventually."

She'll have to keep an eye out for that. "What happened with that friendship?" she asks.

He exhales smoke. "Enishi."

"Ah, protective brother got to be too much for you?"

"It was both of them," he answers flatly and she knows he's done talking about it.

"Okay. Whatever."

He drops her off at her house, like always, and she heads upstairs to her room, like always. It's getting rather monotonous, but at least she knows what to expect.

When she checks her computer, she's surprised to see a Facebook friend request from Akira. Aw, she's officially made a friend. How cute.

She briefly wonders whether Kenshin has a Facebook, but she sincerely doubts he ever friends anyone. Kind of like her.

She smirks when she clicks on the "accept" button.

_Kaoru Kamiya and Akira Kiyosato are now friends._

_

* * *

_

_When Kaoru was ten, Misao suddenly moved. She actually didn't find out until she asked her teacher after Misao hadn't shown up for school three days in a row._

_Kaoru cried and asked Dad why she had to go away. Why she didn't say goodbye. Dad said that her parents wanted to get away._

_Kaoru found out years later that Misao's parents were divorcing and that neither parent was getting custody – she was going to her grandfather. Apparently they weren't treating their daughter well._

_She learned that nothing good ever lasts, and all good things are never what they seem._

**

* * *

**

A/N: So, yeah, Misao will not be making an appearance in this story. At least that's my plan now. It could always change, "never say never" and all that, but don't expect it.

Please review!

MissGoalie


	9. 17: Angel

A/N: UGH, have any of you heard of the singer Cory Simpson? He's basically an Australian Justin Bieber and his song "iYiYi" will not leave my head T_T

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**17: Angel**

_With those large, blue eyes and porcelain skin, she always looked innocent. Angelic, even. Her parents along with everyone else were certainly fooled at first. Perhaps even Kaoru thought of herself that way once upon a time._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru hates Choir, but she has no choice since it's the only plausible arts class for her; there's no way in _hell_ she's risking getting any sort of art product on her clothing.

They're currently working on songs to be performed during the holiday concert in the middle of December. They're the traditional Christmas songs, which she can learn in her sleep. Thankfully, the only other people who take Choir are also in the theater program, so many of her classmates are competent enough (but there's still that _one_ imbecile who should give up on life).

She's going to be standing on the first bleacher because her heels give her extra height. In fact, she's placed directly behind Tomoe, who's the star of the Choir and basically the entire theater program at this dumpy high school.

And not for nothing – she does has a beautiful voice.

Kaoru just wishes this girl wasn't so fucking _nice_ – it makes this whole stealing her boyfriend thing a bit crueler than it already (admittedly) is.

"How are you doing with adjusting to suburbia? It must be so dreadful," Tomoe says sympathetically as the class sits around the room doing homework. Their teacher, the director of the theater is absent, which is a rarity.

Kaoru purses her lips, trying to think of the nicest way to word this. "It sucks royally, but there are a few positive aspects."

Tomoe smiles brightly. "Like what?"

_Your secret boyfriend?_ "The air is cleaner, I suppose."

"That's true. While I love the big city, I just _hate_ how _dirty_ the air is. All that smoke and general nasty."

She's cute, in a borderline annoying way, but at least she's genuine. There's that word again, _genuine_.

"So, is your brother always angry, or does he just have a hard on for Akira Kiyosato?" Kaoru asks calmly, keeping her voice low.

Tomoe's smile falters. "They don't get along well," she admits reluctantly.

"Does he, you know, _take_ anything for it?" Kaoru asks. She thinks she's heard of people who have extreme anger issues – doesn't it have to do with ADHD or something?

"He just has a short temper. My father had it, hence why he's no longer with my family," Tomoe explains, exceptionally cooler with her tone than earlier, "But Enishi's better than him. He's good. You just have to get to know him."

"Right…he's good. When you think harassing your boyfriend, you automatically think _good_, right?"

Tomoe looks down at her textbook. "Look, I know you're new here and don't understand the history of my brother, me, and Akira, so I'm asking you to _please_ don't judge. You can't. You really just can't."

Kaoru looks down at her own homework in fake guilt for a moment before saying, "Sorry. It's rather dull around here – gossip is what I thrived on back in the city," she admits rather honestly.

Tomoe smiles a little. "I can imagine." She glances around at everyone to make sure no one is listening before she adds, "Akira told me that you found out weeks ago about…us…and thank you, you know, for not saying anything."

"The rest of the school _does_ know, right?"

"Yeah, they suspect, but mercifully don't say a word about it. Probably because no one wants to cross Enishi. He's a great person to have as a friend, but the _worst _enemy."

Kaoru hums, wondering just how naïve Tomoe really is.

"How _did_ you and Akira get to be like this, anyway?"

Tomoe chews on her bottom lip for a moment. "Well…we were in the same overall friend group and you know…with time we grew closer, but Enishi didn't really like it. It _really_ set him over the edge when he caught us kissing in my room in freshman year."

"Wow, you've dating since you were _freshmen_?"

Tomoe smiles and nods.

Kaoru looks away from her. Well, this is making her rather torn on the situation. She _likes_ Tomoe; she seems nice and kind and really likes Akira, despite allowing her psycho brother to inadvertently dictate the terms of her relationship with this boy. And Akira _must_ love Tomoe to go through with all the secrecy and lying for _years_.

But everyone has his or her breaking point and she intendeds to find both of theirs because in the end, when it comes down to it, she wants the boy more.

She supposes she's back to playing the devil once more.

* * *

_But when had being the angel ever gotten what she wanted?_

_

* * *

_

A/N: So, most of the major characters have been introduced (finally!) and next chapter, the plot _will_ be introduced. Thanks for being so patient – I know this story is a bit whacky, but that's what makes it fun, right? Right?

Please review!

MissGoalie


	10. 09: Objective

A/N: Sooo...my state got dumped on with snow and am left to just write, clean my room, and watch anime. Wait, why don't I get snowed in more often? This is great!

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**09: Objective**

_If there was one thing that defined Kaoru Kamiya was her knack for creating plans that always worked itself out. Even if something went askew (which was rare in itself), she would always fix it and get the desired result._

_Everything she had ever conspired had always worked._

_

* * *

_

"Hey, text Tomoe and let her know to come to my house after school. You'll drive me home," Kaoru tells Akira after Lit on a Tuesday morning.

"What, why?"

"Just come."

Akira gives her a funny look. "Do you have something planned?"

She gives him a hint of a smile. "Yeah, something like that."

* * *

"Okay, Kaoru, what's the big secret surprise?" Akira inquires, sitting side by side with Tomoe, whose hand is on his knee.

Kaoru wants to slap it off. She also wants to kick Tomoe out and pin Akira to her bed, but that's really not appropriate at this time.

"I feel for your guys. I want to help," she states in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Help…with what?" Tomoe asks slowly.

"You two. You know, your _romantic situation_."

"How?" Akira perks up.

"Throw Enishi off the track. Why would he suspect his sister being with you if you're already dating someone else?"

Tomoe narrows her eyes in confusion. "Who would date him?"

Kaoru smiles. "Me."

Tomoe's eyes widen exponentially. "You're serious?"

"A little PDA, a change of Facebook statuses and we're golden. And if Akira leaves his car parked at my house, he'd never suspect that the two of you are together."

"This seems a bit convoluted."

"It's better than having Akira's ass kicked," Kaoru points out. "Especially since Enishi doesn't have football anymore, he'll be around more. He'll have more time to focus on you."

Akira looks to Tomoe. "She has a point."

Kaoru holds back a "don't I always?" remark; it goes without saying, really.

Tomoe sighs. "It _would_ fool Enishi. And the school would go along with it, maybe even believe it?"

Kaoru tries to tone down her grin. "Great. So we have an accord," she says, trying to sound a bit of a dork for his sake.

He laughs. "Anything to get Enishi off my back would be a godsend."

"Great! So, Saturday night, Akira will change his status on Facebook as will I. We will be conspicuously missing this weekend – no one will see or hear of us except the relationship status change. Then, Monday morning, we'll come in and be…you know…" she trails off, letting them fill in the blanks.

Tomoe looks down at her hands. "Can't say I'm a huge fan of that part of the plan," she admits quietly.

Kaoru takes a seat next to her. "I know. But we'll lay it on thick for a bit, and then when things calm down, it won't be bad at all. I promise."

Tomoe gives her a fleeting smile. "Okay. Just try not to…rub it in my face?"

"Of course."

Then again, Kaoru can't _always _be sure that Tomoe's not within sight…

They leave her house, Akira looking happier than Tomoe, but both leave relatively content. Once they do, she opens the window to her room, takes out the cigarettes she convinced Kenshin to get for her and smokes. Everything is going smoothly so far, which is reminiscent of her old scheming days. It almost feels like being home.

Except for the distinct lack of fashion sense and overall _fun_, but hey, at least there's no Yumi and Shishio monopolizing everything.

That's _her_ now, she thinks with a sense of triumph.

* * *

_All except one._

_

* * *

_

A/N: Hey, look at that! There's something happening in this story! Gotta love that, right?

Please review!

MissGoalie


	11. 24: Façade

A/N: Thank you guys for all your reviews/alerts/favors, etc. I appreciate them all!

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**24: Façade**

_Kaoru used to do her makeup in a rather tame manner: blush, eyeliner, mascara, maybe a bit of eye shadow to highlight the blue of her eyes. But then she met Yumi, who taught her to be a bit more daring because _there is potential for you, Kaoru_._

_Some would say it was the beginning of the new Kaoru when she strutted down the hallways with smoky eyes and a smirk that made heads turn._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru doesn't know why she likes visiting her grandmother, but she does. Quite a bit, really. She might go as far as saying it's a highlight of her week.

Probably because she's the _only_ person within her reach who vaguely understands what she's feeling right now. Besides, it's totally a plus that her mother _despises_ the relationship between daughter and grandmother.

"So, have you met a nice boy here?" her grandmother inquires, a teasing glint in her eye.

"Sort of. I will be publicly dating a boy as I try to sabotage his real relationship behind the scenes," she answers coolly, unperturbed as she takes a sip of tea.

They're sitting outside on the patio since it's an unusually warm day for November.

"Ah, that's nice."

They enjoy the silence.

"Is it that boy who dropped you off?" her grandmother inquires, placing her cup back on its saucer.

Kaoru grimaces. "No. That's just Kenshin. He's practically my chauffeur. Normally I'd take a cab," she shudders here, "But the last time I did, I was practically assaulted, so I'm paying him to take me." She's exaggerating, really, but the driver was _definitely_ eyeing her the wrong way, which re-solidified her stance on public forms of transportation.

"He's attractive," her grandmother adds.

Kaoru shrugs noncommittally.

"So, who is this boy you're going to corrupt?"

Kaoru grins. "Akira. He's innocent, sweet, a dork…very different from the city. It's refreshing." She stares at her grandmother, tilting her head to the side a little. "What was your husband like?" she asks because she's been wondering what her grandfather was like for a while.

Her grandmother looks away, gives Kaoru a brief smile, and then looks away again. "He was a good man, but there was a rather ruthless side to him. I suppose that's always the case for successful businessmen."

Kaoru nods sympathetically. Her father can be like that, certainly.

"But there are some who are like this boy you're trying to steal," her grandmother continues slowly, bringing a hand to her chest, fingering the buttons on her high-neck blouse. "They're rare and hard to come by, but they're out there."

Kaoru wants to call shenanigans on that, as Kenshin would annoyingly say, but who knows; it was definitely a different time a hundred years ago or whatever.

"Well, I wish you the best of luck," her grandmother tells her. "I've played my part in more than a few schemes and if you're related to me at all, you'll be flawless."

This time Kaoru looks away. She's, embarrassingly, not always flawless, but her record is pretty glowing otherwise.

Besides, this is _not_ like the last time: she doesn't have feelings _nearly_ as strong for Akira as she had for Shishio (although they _are_ worth acting on) and these people aren't seasoned in this as she.

She's got nothing to worry about.

* * *

"_Gee_, thank you _so_ much, Kenshin, for taking time out of your afternoon to drive me back and forth so I can visit my grammy!" Kenshin mocks as Kaoru slams the passenger door behind her.

"Hey, I paid you, that's gratitude," she retorts. "And don't you ever talk in that voice again."

"It was worth a try," he sighs.

She takes a few steps toward her front door before turning around and saying, "Thanks," quickly before heading into the house.

"Anytime," he calls back, causing her to slam the door loudly.

Bastard.

But she can't help the corner of her mouth from twitching just a bit.

* * *

_But Yumi forgot to warn her was that it was that much harder to wash off._

* * *

A/N: Who's watching the Jets/Patriots game tomorrow? GO JETS! Sorry readers who are Pat fans - I do love you, I just despise the team you root for :P

Please review!

MissGoalie


	12. 12: Contempt

A/N: KK shippers shall be pleased with this update ~

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**12: Contempt**

_She did it; she really did it. She got her revenge, sending them to hell. Finally, those assholes got what they rightfully deserved._

_It was a long time coming._

_

* * *

_

"Watch it!" Kenshin warns as Kaoru jerks the car into a left-hand turn.

"Sorry," she says without much emotion. It wouldn't be such a huge travesty if she crashes this car.

"Practice turning properly before adding speed."

"Gee, thanks. It's not like I'm taking driver's ed or anything." She rolls her eyes; she hates driver's ed with a passion.

"Hey, I'm risking my ass here letting you drive."

"Okay, first off, we're at _school_. We're not on the road."

"Yeah, but you've managed to piss off and/or attract every teacher and administrator at our school, which is quite a feat because I haven't quite done that yet. They'd catch you and get us in trouble."

"Right, because you care about getting into trouble."

He only smirks as "Only the Young" by Journey fills the silence for the second time today.

"So, what got you sent here?" Kenshin inquires after Kaoru fails yet another attempt at slot parking.

She groans. "Why is this so _hard_?" She sets the car in reverse and backs out. "Ah, fuck it," she mutters before setting the car into drive and runs the car around the parking lot again.

"It must've been something bad," he continues. "Or was it the last straw?"

"Out of all the CDs you own, _Journey's Greatest Hits_ just _had_ to get jammed," she continues. "You know, I'd _pay_ to fix it because learning how to drive with this shitty music is driving me insane. This junky car is bad enough on its own."

"Okay, fine. Ignore me. Keep insulting my baby. I'll even let you insult Journey, which is borderline blasphemous. I'm just going to assume my third belief is true, then."

"Oh, and what's that?" she asks with an eye roll.

He shrugs. "Maybe you wanted to be sent here?"

"Why would I want to be sent to this hellhole?"

"I don't know, why would you?" he challenges with a raised eyebrow.

She looks ahead and lifts her head slightly. "Let's just say they got what was coming to them," she reveals.

"Did you _murder_ people or something?"

She smiles. "If you mean socially, then yes."

"Why?"

She grips the wheel a little tighter. "Because they fucked with the wrong bitch."

"So you took everyone down and ran away?"

"I got sent here for my _less than honorable_ behavior. I wouldn't run away."

"I'm calling shenanigans."

Her nose twitches. "Great."

Silence.

"How many people are we talking here?"

"Four. But one was…collateral damage."

"Jesus Christ, the way you talk about this shit is crazy," he says, shaking his head. "So, what, one was an _accident_?"

"You could say that."

"Do you regret doing it?"

"No."

"Not even if it meant not coming to live here? Frankly, I'm surprised you made it through the first month."

She completes a loop around the school. "No," she says again. "They deserved it."

"So you said."

She parks the car and steps out. "Drive me home. I'm done."

"Sorry, the city is almost three hours away. My car won't make it."

She slams the door shut. "Fuck you, you know what I mean," she snaps, her eyes flashing angrily.

"Okay, okay." He gets out of the car.

As he drives, she looks out the window and vaguely enjoys the splashes of colors in her surroundings. This town may suck, but it looks like a fucking postcard.

"Let me guess. Despite everything, you're the only one who was punished for their _less than honorable behavior_."

She ignores him the rest of the way to the house. She hates it when he decides to be _talkative_. When he's broody and silent, she can maybe enjoy his company.

Wait, did she seriously just admit that she might like yet _another_ person in this town?

No way. She still hates this guy. She hates his red hair and his stupid smirk and his French and his hipster wardrobe, which is just ridiculous because he doesn't even live _near_ a city, so he can't pull it off (even though he can, _ugh_).

He's infuriating.

The only person whom she likes is Akira, who may just be the only good-natured person she's ever met.

"You know, you're the weirdest person at this school."

She rolls her eyes. "Really? I beat out Trekkie Noboru? Who speaks in every fictional language imaginable and eats _tissues_ when he thinks people aren't looking?"

He snorts. "Yeah, he's a fucking weirdo, but at least that's what he _is_. A freak. _You_ on the other hand are something else."

She narrows her eyes. "What do you mean."

"I mean…you have absolutely no friends at this school, everyone is scared shitless of you, and you don't fit in anywhere. You're so cool that you're a loser."

"That makes no sense whatsoever."

"Of course it does. You're so beyond this town that you don't fit in. You're like an outlier in an experiment that you end up discarding."

"Aw, you think I'm cool?"

"Anything outside the town is automatically cooler."

"Fair point."

He coasts to an easy stop in front of the driveway – he never actually pulls in for her, which is really aggravating. He holds out his hand, an expectant expression on his face.

She opens her wallet, checks the time on his clunky wristwatch, and then hands him thirty bucks.

"_Plaisir de faire affaire avec vous_," he says happily.

"_Je vous déteste_," she responds with an equal amount of cheer.

"_Avec moi ça ne prend pas_," he states with a knowing smile. "Admit it, you rather enjoy my company."

"I'd rather eat my own hair." She gets out of his car. "See you on Monday, _âne_."

"Calling your driving instructor a jackass isn't going to help," he adds.

"But you'll keep coming back anyway."

"It's the masochist in me."

"More like the money in my wallet."

She shuts the door to block out the wailing of Steve Perry and Kenshin's chuckling.

Well, it's the beginning of another boring weekend. But come Monday, the fun will begin.

* * *

_Why the fuck did it _turn on her_? How? _

_She didn't fight it when her dad told her that she had to leave; what was the point in staying when she had nothing?_

_

* * *

_

A/N: Get ready for things to get a bit complicated =)

Please review!

MissGoalie


	13. 21: Guarantee

A/N: EVERYONE SHOULD CHECK OUT **Pinay Tiger**'s FANART ON DEVIANTART! She did a lovely picture based on this story! ^_^

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**21: Guarantee**

_To her, it was the highest of highs to begin the first day of an operation._

_

* * *

_

At six in the morning, Kaoru dials Akira's cell phone.

"_Wuh? Kaoru?_" Akira groans in a rather sexy voice.

"This is what you have to do this morning: first, you're going to get coffee for us both at around seven. Then, you're going to pick me up at the house I currently reside in. Next, we're going to share our first kiss. And then we will drive to school together," Kaoru explains as she picks off imaginary lint from her dress.

"_Huh?_" Now he sounds more awake.

"Just do as I say. Trust me." She hangs up and finishes her shopping online – at least she can appreciate not being cut off from _Daddy_.

* * *

He comes to her mother's house at around ten past seven, two steaming cups of Starbucks coffee in his hands.

"I wasn't sure if you wanted sugar or cream or…" he starts to ramble, placing the cups on the table and taking out packets of different kinds of sugars from his pockets as she shuts the door of her bedroom behind them.

She smiles at him adoringly. "I like my coffee _black_," she says, drawing out the word just to make him swallow.

"Me too."

She pauses with the cup at her lips, raising an eyebrow. "Really."

He shrugs.

"Huh." She takes a tentative sip. Hot and bitter – perfect. "I would've labeled you as a 'three sugars, let half the cup be cream,' kind of coffee guy."

He laughs. "No, that's Tomoe, definitely." Then he gets a guilty expression on his face.

She tries not to roll her eyes. "Look, we're doing this so you guys can _stop worrying_ with your sneaking around. This is going to work."

He briefly smiles at her. "Right." He takes a sip of his coffee.

"Okay," she starts, putting her cup down. "Kiss me," she tells him, looking directly into his eyes.

He almost chokes on his coffee.

This time she rolls her eyes. "Come on, Akira. First kisses are _obvious_. I know you – you're going to be hesitant and that's _not_ how couples kiss when they've been together for at least two days. Remember, we've spent almost the entire weekend together."

He sighs. "Yeah, uh, right, sorry," he mutters, rubbing the palms of his hands on his jeans. "Okay. So…I'm just going to…kiss you. Right now."

"Right now," she confirms, smiling at him.

He takes a few steps forward. "Sorry I'm acting all…nervous and stuff. I've just…" He flushes. "I've never kissed anyone else. Other than Tomoe. You know?"

"I figured as much."

He walks forward until there's very little space between them. "So…right. Okay." He leans in and pecks her on the mouth.

She sighs. "Akira. Come on. That's not a kiss."

He turns beet-red. "I'm sorry!"

She sighs again and wraps her arms around his neck. "Try again."

He keeps his lips on hers, still gentle, but manages to move his mouth this time around. She decides to take the reigns and adds more pressure, attempting to slip her tongue through his teeth. Eventually they reach a rhythm and he has his hands gripping her waist, holding her close to him.

"Now _that's_ a kiss," she says after pulling away, trying to keep her breathing even.

"Right," he answers shakily.

She notes in smugness that he's still holding onto her. "We should get to school now."

He clears his throat and steps away, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "Yeah. Let's go."

She gathers her bag and coffee and walks out of the house with her free hand laced with his.

Her blood is thrumming through her veins at the thought of putting her plan to action.

"Here's what we're going to tell everyone at school…"

* * *

She's just _basking_ in the shock and attention. She loves their widening eyes and their slacked jaws as she greets Akira with a kiss whenever they see each other in the hallways.

It's empowering.

When she sits in French class (she managed to switch into the highest level – it helps that the teacher is a closeted lesbian), Kenshin takes a seat next to her, a first, and says, "Nice little show you're putting on," in a quiet but amused way.

She just shoots him a smirk.

"Right." He shakes his head. "You better know what you're doing," he merely says before focusing his attention to the front of the class. "I'm beating you today."

She scoffs. "Yeah, right."

* * *

"How are your driving lessons with Himura?" Akira inquires during lunch.

Kaoru sighs and shrugs. "They're acceptable. At least I'm getting practice. The sooner I get my license, the better."

He nods. "Right. Just be careful with him."

She raises an eyebrow at him, causing him to flush. "What do you mean?"

"Well…you know. He's…uh. Okay. Here's the story with him. He used to be friends with _that_ crowd, you know, Enishi's jocks and all those people," he starts to explain, jerking his head in the direction where the jocks usually congregate.

"Wait…Kenshin and Enishi were _friends_?" she prompts him, completely surprised. Looks like Mr. Himura _is_ keeping some secrets from her.

He nods. "Oh yeah. _Best_ friends when they were little. But then suddenly one day, Himura was a complete loner. Started acting up and all that. He's calmed down from middle school, except for one time last year when he got suspended, but he still scares the crap out of people," he explains in a low voice.

"It's the eyes," she adds thoughtfully.

He cocks his head to the side.

"It's fine. I can take care of myself. Besides, I'm paying him a small fortune a week." Then she reaches over the table and gently pinches his cheek. "Aw, you're concerned for me?"

He flushes again. "Yeah, well…"

"It's cute," she says, swooping down to kiss his lips briefly.

"Don't you think you're laying this on a bit…thick?" he asks her after she pulls away.

"We have to – the more it happens, the more real it is." She finds Kenshin in the cafeteria. "What did he get suspended for?"

"Punching Enishi in the face during passing time. Totally uncalled for, actually. Neither of them will talk about it, though."

"Hm."

She glances at where Kenshin was, but he's already gone.

* * *

"I have to cancel driving tomorrow," Kenshin informs her after school.

She rolls her eyes. "Why?"

"Because I'm not going to school tomorrow. I'm busy."

"With what?"

"None of your business. Drop it."

"Okay, geez."

The next day, she's surprised her French teacher _and_ math teacher merely mark off Kenshin's absence with a frown. Weird.

As much as she hates to admit it, she really doesn't have Kenshin completely down. And she _really _doesn't like it when she can't easily understand someone.

* * *

_To her, it was the lowest of lows to realize that an operation was a failure from the start; she wasn't as good at reading people as she thought she was._

_

* * *

_

A/N: Soooo...GO JETS!

Please review!

MissGoalie


	14. 10: Voice

A/N: I think **cynthiarox66** will appreciate this little shout out ^_^

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**10: Voice**

_The first time Kaoru realized she had a good voice was when she was watching her favorite Disney movie, Beauty and the Beast (she liked that Belle had a personality and stood up for herself and singing along with the titular song._

_Her Dad had raved what a lovely voice she had while Mom gave her a tight-lipped smile, saying that she needed lessons._

_Kaoru _despised_ them, so she quit after two. It had nothing to do with her mother wanting them, she swore._

_The only other people who had heard her sing were Sano and Yumi, the latter being an accident._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru is walking down an empty hallway, reading a text sent by Tomoe:

_It's OK! I saw u checking out the cafeteria before kissing him – u r so considerate. Enishi is STILL off my case – it's great! Thanks!_

She smirks and plops her phone in her bag, very pleased with herself. Heading towards the library to take out a book for one of her classes, she passes by the auditorium when she hears a piano playing a song that the school choir plans on singing for the holiday concert next week.

Curious, she opens the door and quietly slips into the auditorium.

She automatically recognizes the bright red hair of the piano player.

"You're the _last_ person I expected to play the piano," she states, her voice echoing in the room.

She hears him blurt out a curse and something that sounds suspiciously like "oro" (_what the fuck_) as he messes up the song. "Thanks, Kamiya. Lost twenty years there."

"Why are you playing the choir's music?"

He twists his body so he's now facing opposite the piano. "Subbing for your pianist."

"And why, exactly, are you subbing for Suzuki?" Kaoru inquires as she walks down the isle to reach him.

"Because his random aunt in Texas is sick and he's the only relative willing to help her out."

She gestures toward the piano with a nod of her head. "Definitely not a guitar."

"I said I didn't play it. I never said anything about not playing an instrument in general."

"How long?"

He shrugs. "A while."

He doesn't explain, signaling Kaoru that it must be personal, which makes her roll her eyes.

She glances at the empty stage.

"You'd be a great actress," he tells her after following her gaze. "You're such a drama queen."

Her nose twitches. "Hardly." But she kind of has to agree with him. "Not a fan of drama kids."

"But you do Choir," he points out.

"That's because I refuse to do art. And possibly ruin my clothes and get junk under my nails? No thanks."

He nods towards the stage. "Sing."

She gives him a stony glare.

"I'm curious. Come on, I'll show you how versatile I am. I know many, many songs. I bet you're curious."

Damn this fucking guy.

She mentally chooses a song and smirks before stepping on the stage. Standing center stage feels strange, but kind of exhilarating. She can definitely understand why some kids crave this.

"Alright, Princess, what's the song?"

She rolls her eyes at the sad pet name. Then she smiles. "You know it – just keep up."

He readies himself in front of the piano and waits for her to start singing.

"_Haaapppy biiiiiirthday tooo yoooouuuu,_" she starts crooning.

"Oh, fuck you," he interrupts her, trying to hold back laughter.

She laughs.

"Come on, I'm serious."

She rolls her eyes. She can't get along with him for more than five minutes without his pissing her off again.

"Fine. 'Take Me Or Leave Me.'"

He scoffs. "That _Rent_ song?"

She raises her eyebrows. "I'm surprised you know it."

He doesn't say anything and just starts playing the familiar piano opening. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes to focus on where to start, and belts.

She hasn't done this in way too long; she'd only do it when she knew she was alone in the apartment. Nowadays she's never comfortable enough to really sing out loud; she's afraid her mother is always lurking.

After finishing the first chorus, she stops and looks to Kenshin, who's staring at her with pure shock. She doesn't think she's ever seen that expression on his face before.

"Shit, Kaoru," he says, his voice hoarse.

She swallows.

"Why aren't you doing _something_ with that? You're better than Tomoe. And she's…practically _royalty_ for her voice."

She can't help but feel slightly proud at that comment.

"Kaoru – why aren't you doing anything with that talent?"

She narrows her eyes at him. "Never you mind."

He stands up and flips down the key lid. "I just think it's a waste."

"I'm not a performer. It's never going to be my _career_…why needlessly show it off?"

"So says the girl who struts around without any pants," he mutters under his breath.

"I don't need my voice. I'm set. For _life_. It's not necessary." She ignores the no pants comment because she knows he likes her outfits but would never admit it.

He stares at her for a moment before something glints in his eyes. "How selfless of you."

"What do you mean?"

He shrugs his irritating shrug and gathers the music book.

She hates it when he ignores her. But pretending that she doesn't give a shit, she walks off the stage.

They exit the auditorium in silence and before they part ways in the empty hallway, he says, "You really do have a beautiful voice."

She ignores how warm her cheeks feel.

* * *

_Kaoru was fifteen and singing in her room, brushing her hair. She didn't hear Yumi enter._

"_Wow, Kaoru, you have such a pretty voice."_

_Kaoru blushed a bit in pride._

"_But you know I'm the lead in all the productions, right? I don't expect you to audition."_

_Kaoru didn't say that she had, in fact, planned on going to the audition next week. She merely reassured Yumi that she didn't have time._

_It wasn't like she loved to it or anything._

_

* * *

_

A/N: So...maybe you can see a bit why Kaoru tries to ruin Yumi? *shrug*

Please review!

MissGoalie


	15. 28: Writer's Choice

A/N: HANDS UP, WHO'S SICK OF WINTER? I AM.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

_Christmas was one of the two times of the year when Kaoru was shamelessly showered with gifts (the other being her birthday, naturally)._

_When she woke up early on Christmas Day (that childhood tradition never quite shook off), she could always count on the large pile of gifts under the tree._

_It was truly a wonderful holiday._

_

* * *

_

**28: Writer's Choice**

Kaoru awakes at a little past seven. She takes her time showering and picking out an outfit and putting on her makeup. She even hums a Christmas song or two.

Before she leaves her room, she goes to her closet and pulls out the Christmas gift she got her mother. It's a Hermès scarf, which is a bit impersonal, but she thought her mother would appreciate it. Or she _should_ because _anything_ Hermès is fucking gorgeous.

To her surprise, her mother is not in the kitchen where she usually is, cooking or doing something or other.

"Hm."

She walks through the kitchen to the small living room where a tiny, fake Christmas tree stood. She stops when she sees there aren't any gifts under it.

Narrowing her eyes in confusion, she goes up the stairs to her mother's room. "Mom?" Kaoru calls, knocking on the door. Maybe she's sick or something.

Nothing.

She cracks the door open and finds the bed completely empty, already made.

Gripping her cell phone in her pocket, she goes down the stairs again and this time notices a sheet of paper on the counter:

_Kaoru – _

_Gone to visit your grandmother for the day – be back with dinner._

_Mom_

The silence in the house is _deafening_.

She pulls out her cell phone, sees it's half past nine so she calls the apartment. She _was_ going to wait until they called her because, _hello_, she's extremely pissed that she wasn't invited back for the holidays, but she has to talk to _someone_.

"_Kaoru! Merry Christmas!_" her father exclaims cheerfully after the third ring.

She smiles. "Merry Christmas, Dad."_Why didn't you invite me home, you son of a bitch?_

"_Did you already open all your gifts?_"

Her hold on her phone tightens. "Oh, no, I'm lying in bed right now. Just woke up," she lies.

"_Sano's not awake yet, but I'll let him know you called. I have to go, sweetie, there's a luncheon with a few families. You know._"

She bites her bottom lip hard for a moment. "Yeah. Of course. I'll let you go."

"_I love you, bye!_"

Before she can say the words back, he hangs up on her.

Exhaling sharply, she goes back to her mother's room and heads directly into her closet.

Five packages. All addressed to Kaoru.

She knows that she and her mother have a bit of a chilly relationship, but she didn't think that her mother would be this way on _Christmas_. And didn't her mother think that maybe Kaoru would've liked to visit her grandmother today? She genuinely _likes_ the woman now.

So, what are her options? Does she take a taxi to her grandmother's and surprise them? Or does she open her gifts now and bitch her mother out later?

She sighs tiredly. It's Christmas; for once, she doesn't want to be a bitch. So she tosses the Hermès box on top of her packages and shuts the door, trying to ignore the acute pain in her chest.

Deciding a cigarette is an order, she pops into her room and grabs her pack and heads outside, taking care that she doesn't step in snow.

As she exhales smoke through her nose, she notices that mailbox flap is down. Rolling her eyes, she makes her way down the shoveled path to the mailbox, which is filled with mail and a package.

Curious, she takes everything out with her cigarette pursed between her lips. It's all surprisingly heavy, so it takes a while to make sure it's safely tucked into her chest before plucking the cigarette out from her mouth and shutting the flap.

Then she realizes exactly what she's done within the past five minutes.

She took a cigarette _outside_ the house – she always smoked in her room with the window open, but _right now_ she could've smoked inside to get back at her mother. _Also_, she got the _mail_ for her. What the hell _is_ this?

It's a good thing that the package is addressed to her because she can at least use that as a legitimate excuse.

She wonders if this is another package from her dad, but normally he writes a return address (with good reason – there's expensive shit on those packages) and this one doesn't have one.

When she opens it, she finds a bundle wrapped in brown paper with a yellow post-it note on it:

_Why you sent me a package instead of just giving it to me on Friday is beyond my comprehension. But I thought I'd return the favor._

Kenshin. _Himura_. Himura. From the annoying ginger.

She rips the wrapping to find _Journey's Greatest Hits_ with another post-it note on it.

_Because you need your own copy. It's a necessity more than anything else._

She rolls her eyes. And here she was being generous and sending him an iTunes gift card with the note: _buy some good music_.

Underneath the album is a tastefully (she _did not_ just say that!) worn Journey shirt with the _Evolution_ album cover on it with yet another post-it:

_Happy Christmas._

Her expression softens as she holds out the shirt. She would _never_ wear such a large shirt (off the shoulder tops are so eighties and should remain there), but it's rather thoughtful. And maybe, _maybe_ if she weren't such a spoiled brat, she would like it and wear it. It's the thought that counts, right?

She places it at the bottom of her lingerie drawer. But she does import the album, which is saying something.

* * *

_Every year after her mother left, she never found gifts under the tree from her. She could never understand why this overshadowed all the fabulous gifts from everyone else._

**

* * *

**

A/N: So, we're halfway through! Exciting.

Please review!

MissGoalie


	16. 23: Change

A/N: So, we're getting into the second half of the story!

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**23: Change**

_Scandalous news traveled _fast_ on the Upper East Side_ – especially_ when it involved the King and Queen, Shishio and Yumi, which Kaoru always appreciated._

_

* * *

_

"Kaoru…we have a problem," Tomoe tells Kaoru in the latter's bedroom. She's been pacing for the past five minutes, irritating Kaoru.

"What is it?" Kaoru asks impatiently. She just wants this girl to _stop moving_.

"Enishi is getting suspicious. He's wondering where I'm going now and it's _not good_."

Kaoru cocks her head to the side. "What do you mean? Akira and I have been lovey-dovey for _weeks_ now – did he _see_ the watch I bought him for Christmas?"

"He's not worried about _Akira_ being with me – he's worried that I'm with some _other_ guy," Tomoe explains, looking distressed. "Kaoru – he will _flip out_ if he finds out about what we've been doing behind his back."

"Okay…we'll need to distract him, then. Does he have a job or something?"

Tomoe shakes her head. "He just got fired. And lacrosse doesn't start until March."

Kaoru looks down at her shoes – they're really adorable. _Focus_.

"A girl," she says slowly. "We need someone to distract _him_." And then she realizes how utterly hopeless _that_ idea is – while girls think he's hot (including hers truly), they're scared of him and his temper. Not exactly the best boy friend material. But this wouldn't _have_ to be a relationship…

"Why don't we get that slut Sakura to hook up with him for a month or two?" Kaoru inquires. "I could pay her off."

"Can't – her parents are finally setting her straight and she's grounded indefinitely," Tomoe answers sadly. She then freezes and shakes her head. "I can't believe I didn't even bat an _eyelash_ after you talked about _paying her to hook up with someone_."

Kaoru smiles. "It's normal where I'm from." She sighs. "Okay, what about…"

Then she freezes. No, that would be _crazy_ – what would she gain out of it? Akira's appreciation? That's always a plus, especially since the two have gotten rather close ever since their "relationship" started. People think she's a selfish bitch – by doing this it would prove to Akira that she's not selfish. Well, not _totally_.

"What about me?" Kaoru offers quietly, her mind working. "A secret hook up. I'll corner him – he definitely won't say no. And I'll still be with Akira, but I'll also distract Enishi. He'll be so wrapped up in a _forbidden_ _relationship_ that he won't pay as much attention to you."

Tomoe gasps. "Oh, Kaoru, I could _never_ ask you to do that. That's…"

Kaoru shrugs. "Trust me. Hooking up is not a big deal for me," she admits rather flatly. "It won't be that often – it doesn't have to be, really. Besides, it would be doubly effective."

Tomoe surprises Kaoru by bringing her into a tight hug. "Thank you. _Thank you_. You've been…so incredible to us. We _really_ appreciate it."

Kaoru smiles tightly and pats Tomoe on the back awkwardly. She has an uncomfortable knot in her stomach and she doesn't know why – she's beyond the point of feeling guilty about all of this and she knows that tactically it's a good idea…

Maybe it's that horrible salad she bought after school.

* * *

She holds hands with Akira as they enter this kid Kamatari's house. He's in theater but also does cross-country during the fall season, so there's a mixture of sport players and theater geeks mingling.

It's the only house where Tomoe and Akira could be seen near each other since Akira, as it turns out, is a sprinter. Who knew?

And since Akira is such a good _widdle athlete_, he's not drinking, so she's free to do what she wants.

…If only she can find some _decent_ alcohol around here. Honestly, these country bumpkins have _no_ idea how to party.

Luckily, she manages to flirt a bit with some rich-looking preps and manages to down some decent vodka, so she's got an appropriate buzz. It doesn't take a lot like it used to; it's definitely because she's not partying hard every weekend, which is depressing.

When she finds Akira talking with a fellow runner, she pulls him aside and whispers in his ear, "I'm going to find Enishi. Stay with your friends. Say I'm going to the bathroom."

She leaves a lingering kiss on his lips before strutting up the stairs, pretty sure she saw Enishi stumbling up them earlier.

She catches him walking out of the master bedroom. Quickly scanning the hallway, she almost runs over to him, pushing him back inside.

"What –?"

"Just get in here," she orders, shoving him into the master bathroom and locking the door behind them.

Then she kisses him.

He's quick respond, a little too quick and she ends up pushing him away when he hands drift to her ass. "Okay, slow down, buddy. I'm not going to fuck you in a bathroom."

He exhales, staring at her hungrily.

She sighs. "Look, you're hot. I'm hot. I have a boyfriend, but he's…well, you know." She gives him a pointed look.

His eyes narrow in thought. "You and Kiyosato seemed like you _love_ each other," he drawls.

She shrugs. "I like the guy, but he's a little _bland_, as you can understand," she explains, running a finger down his chest. "So…what do you say?"

He grins devilishly and it's pretty attractive, she's not going to lie. But_ nobody_ could do the devilish grin like Shishio, so it doesn't blow her mind or anything. She smiles at him coyly. "Great." She slips her hand into his front pocket and takes out his cell phone, adding her number. When she's done, she sticks it back in, making sure to linger. "Wait five minutes after I leave. That should give you enough time?"

She winks at him, leaving him gawking.

Exhaling in triumph, she struts down the hallway where there's now a couple hooking up against the wall. Rolling her eyes, she steps around them and she almost bumps right into Akira walking out of a bedroom, hair mused and lips –

"Get back in there!" Kaoru hisses, shoving Akira back into the bedroom where Tomoe is straightening out her top.

They stare at Kaoru guiltily for a few seconds, during which she glares at them and crosses her arms like an angry mother.

"Akira. What did I tell you before I left to find Enishi?" she asks him calmly.

He looks down at his feet. "To stay with my friends."

"Okay. Well, to the outside world, you and Tomoe aren't _anything_, so you two shouldn't be anywhere _near_ each other, let alone hooking up at a _party_. I was going to let you see each other at _my _go-ahead."

Tomoe shifts from foot to foot, curling a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"Look, Kaoru, I'm sorry, but we haven't seen each other all week. We missed each other. We figured that since you were gone, they'd assume that you were with me, so…"

Kaoru zeroes in on Akira and notes his flushes face and realizes that he's _enjoying_ this. He _enjoyed_ taking a risk to rendezvous with his _true love_.

She grabs him by the collar of his shirt and says, "We're leaving the room together like we just hooked up. Tomoe, stay in here for ten to fifteen minutes."

Tomoe nods and then Kaoru giggles, dragging Akira to the door. He takes the cue and wraps an arm around her tightly.

They leave the room together, pressing kisses to their mouths between laughs.

But when she's lying in her bed that night, she can't help but be confused: she _really_ didn't account for Akira to do that.

* * *

_She should have realized that when Yumi and Shishio had broken up "for good," that something was wrong._

_

* * *

_

A/N: And the plot thickens?

Please review!

MissGoalie


	17. 08: Compromise

A/N: **_WARNING: this chapter addresses sensitive material._******I will do my best to handle the topics mentioned and hinted at with great care because I'm fully aware how serious they are.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**08: Compromise**

_This was the biggest news since the world found out that Haruhi Nakamura had twins with her father's business partner and sold them for cocaine: Megumi Takani, the girl who always claimed to be as fresh as the fallen snow, the bitch who confirmed Yumi's and Shishio's "official breakup," had an _abortion_._

_And Kaoru Kamiya was the only one who knew. For now._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru and her grandmother are taking a slow walk around the park on brisk, but sunny day. Their arms are linked so her grandmother can have a little support. Kaoru would normally hate walking this slow since, _hello_, she's a city girl, but she keeps her patience.

"You see that cemetery?" her grandmother says, pointing across the green.

"Yeah."

"That's where I'm going to be buried."

Kaoru tries hard not to wince. "How…nice."

Her grandmother pats Kaoru's arm. "Come on. Let me show you my plot."

Kaoru really doesn't want to see it, but her grandmother's hold is strong for an old woman. Bitch.

It's just an open spot of grass not near anyone. Kaoru finds the sight rather sad.

"You don't want to be buried next to…?" Kaoru inquires, trailing off.

"No – he's in his family's mausoleum, which _conveniently_ ran out of space with his death. I was going to be placed in the annex, but I thought they could go to hell. Besides, I could handle a few decades with him, not eternity."

Kaoru smiles. "Don't we have our own mausoleum?"

"Yeah, but I would never want to be buried with my parents. I grew to really despise them."

Kaoru feels a chill crawling up her spine – she can't imagine _despising_ her parents. Sure, she doesn't quite like her mother and her father can be quite absent or overbearing with no middle ground, but she still _loves_ them, deep down.

"Why did you hate them?" she asks quietly.

Her grandmother sighs. "What else for? They denied me what I wanted."

Kaoru clenches her jaw; she's familiar with that, but she was still able to forgive her dad for those moments.

"You see…I was a bit older than you are now. A new family had moved from San Fransisco where they had been successful and wanted to expand to the east coast. This family wasn't quite upper class, but they were on the brink. They only had one son. Maybe if they had a girl, she would've married someone of higher status and it would've been okay. But they just had him."

Kaoru immediately knows where this story is going and she wants her grandmother to shut the fuck up – she doesn't want to hear about this; she doesn't want to hear about another failure.

Her grandmother smiles knowingly. "As you can imagine, you know what happened after we met. All the secrecy was very thrilling."

Kaoru can't help but smile in understanding, but then the smile slips off her face when she thinks about her brother and what happened a few months ago.

"But I did love him," her grandmother adds softly. "He proposed."

For a terrible moment, jealousy sears through Kaoru's veins; she can't imagine anyone loving her like that.

"But…" Her grandmother exhales shakily, placing a hand on her stomach. "I got pregnant."

Kaoru whips her head away from her grandmother, her eyes widening to the point of it being painful. Does that mean she has an _aunt_ or something? Cousins? Did this just result in an affair and _maybe_ her grandfather isn't _really_ her grandfather?

"I got scared," her grandmother continues softly. "I ran back to my parents, telling them everything. They told me that if I were to marry him, they would disown me and wouldn't recognize the child."

For the first time in a long, long time, Kaoru feels the urge to cry. But she's so long practiced in holding those back that it doesn't take much effort to do so. "They offered to _take care of it_," she concludes.

"If I didn't see him again," her grandmother adds.

Kaoru nods, closing her eyes briefly. "I remember a long time ago I asked my mom why she didn't have any brothers or sisters. Why I didn't have any cousins. She said it was because you couldn't have any more children after her."

"The surgery was _very_ poorly done. I had two miscarriages before your mother. She's my miracle child."

Kaoru sneaks a glance at her grandmother. "Is that why you're…?"

Her grandmother shrugs nonchalantly. "I'm sure it doesn't help my health, but my body is just falling apart with age."

It hits Kaoru that her grandmother's days are numbered and death is so very near.

"I think that would make me hate my parents," she manages to strangle out.

"I also hated myself for it, as you can imagine. He ran off after that and eventually his family fell to ruin, so to speak. The last I heard of him was that he died in an automobile accent on route one-oh-one a decade later. Hit by a drunk driver. I always vehemently hoped a law would be created after that."

"Where is he buried?" Kaoru inquires.

"He's not. Or at least, I don't think he would be. We talked about it once. He wanted to be cremated and scattered."

Kaoru looks down at the plot again, the sadness clutching at her heart. "Why don't you do the same?"

Her grandmother smiles at her with a hint of pre-eminence. "I am. Half of my remains will be here. It's for your mother, more than anything else. The other part is to be scattered."

"Oh, I thought you were going to be _buried_ here!"

"I am, but I'm being cremated."

Kaoru smiles a little. "I didn't think you would – you're so very vain, as are all the women in this family."

"Exactly – I don't want this wrinkly body of mine to be preserved as evidence."

Kaoru lets out a chuckle before covering her mouth, realizing that this _isn't_ funny because she doesn't want to talk about burials and cremations or scattering of ashes. She doesn't want her grandmother to _leave her alone_.

She looks past the plot to her left and finds two white gravestones, one of which is for a small child. Narrowing her eyes, she tries to read the name and they nearly bug out again when she recognizes the last name.

Himura.

She walks closer to the stone and reads the name _Shinta Himura_ and the date of birth. Five years before hers. Before Kenshin's.

There is no death date.

Inhaling, she glances to the stone to the left of that and sees_ Chiyo Himura: a daughter, a friend, a wife, a mother, beloved._ And a death date that Kaoru quickly calculates; Kenshin was eleven when she passed.

Her grandmother is about to say something when Kaoru catches that familiar red hair from the corner of her eye. She cranes her head to see Kenshin standing a few feet away, clearly in shock.

She bites her bottom lip and looks down at her shoes. Exhaling loudly, she says, "Kenshin, this is my grandmother. Grandmother, this is Kenshin," cringing at how loud her voice sounds.

Her grandmother smiles. "Nice to finally meet you, chauffer."

He nods at her, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Likewise."

"I'm sorry. I just…my grandmother was showing me where she was going to be buried and I just saw…" Kaoru trails off, wanting to sink into the ground.

Kenshin shakes his head. "It's fine."

Her grandmother nods at the two of them and discreetly leaves the two of them alone.

The silence is so awkward that Kaoru feels uncomfortable in her own skin, which never happens.

"My mom was depressed. Ever since…" he nods toward the smaller grave. "My dad and I weren't quite enough for her, I guess."

She chokes on her words; she wants to say that _can't_ be true, that it wasn't in his mother's control and she probably lost it in a single moment and if she could, she would take it all back to be with her son. But Kaoru keeps the words to herself, only emitting a strange noise from the back of her throat that makes her wince.

"During the biopsy they discovered that she had cancer. Really bad. She failed to tell my dad. I was lucky I was born, actually. It was only a matter of time. It's all kinds of fucked up, really. My family."

_Another miracle child_, Kaoru thinks to herself. She's never heard him sound so fragmented before.

Kaoru curls her hands into fists in her pockets; she's nothing but an unwanted second child at this point.

Kenshin sighs loudly. "I visit them once a month," he adds, shrugging his shoulders.

She wants to say _that's really nice and sweet_, but she doesn't think he'd appreciate hearing that.

"What are the odds?" she whispers to herself.

"What, that your grandmother's future grave and half my family's are next to each other?"

She nods, kind of wanting to smile but not really.

"No offense, it's kind of morbid that she showed you where she's going to be buried."

"She was being _honest_ with one person. When she's gone, at least one person will really _know_," she explains, realizing it as she says the words.

He hums. "That's…"

"Relieving. For her, anyway, which is important."

Kenshin smiles at her – probably the first time he ever has. "Yeah." Then he looks back on his mother's grave.

"I'll just get out of your way, then. I'll see you in school."

He nods at her. "See you."

She quickly walks away to find her grandmother sitting on a bench a couple hundred yards away. When she reaches her, she feels a strong urge to hug her grandmother.

"He's a handsome boy," her grandmother says, repeating what she said months ago.

Kaoru sighs, helping her grandmother get on her feet again. "I suppose he is. For a redhead."

She glances back at him to find him sitting on the grass, talking to the gravestone, picking at the grass with one hand.

Her grandmother leads her away.

"Remind me when we get back that I have to change something on my will," her grandmother says to distract Kaoru.

It works. "Why?"

Her grandmother brings a hand to her collarbone, an action Kaoru's seen so often. "I wanted to be buried with this, but I think it would be better if you had it."

"Had what?"

"I'll show you when we get back. It's very simple, but it's the only thing I have to remind me of him. Everyone thinks I bought it for myself or my late husband gave it to me. No one knew the truth until today."

The rest of the walk is silent until they take a cab back to her grandmother's place. Halfway there, Kaoru quietly asks, "Why haven't you told my mother?"

Her grandmother sighs. "Because your mom loved your dad very much. And I love my daughter more than anything else…I can't stand the idea of breaking her heart like that."

Kaoru tries to ignore the fact that her feelings were hurt by that answer.

* * *

During Kaoru's cab ride home, she wishes she argued more about the necklace – she doesn't understand why anyone would want to carry a memento of anyone dead or gone. Wouldn't it constantly remind you of the loss? Frankly, she wants to cut her losses because if she thinks too much about them all, it makes her feel empty.

* * *

_She didn't find out until her brother stormed into her room and started screaming at her that _he_ was the father._

_

* * *

_

A/N: I hope this was okay *cringe*. Let me know ~

Please review!

MissGoalie


	18. 20: Silence

A/N: Okay, again, I'm going to be dealing with very sensitive material. Just warning you.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**20: Silence**

_The only good thing about that disaster of a plan that was seducing Shishio was that nobody found out, including Yumi. Maybe. But Kaoru remains unsure about that._

_It was a win-win in a losing situation: Kaoru never wanted anyone to find out about her mistake and Shishio didn't want anyone to find out that he broke his, "I don't sleep with anyone in Yumi's circle during our breakups" promise._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru won't lie – hooking up with Enishi isn't the worst thing in the world. They've only done it a handful of times, but she thinks this could really work until March, when she'll just end it, claiming her mother is being a bitch or something.

_It should be fine_, she thinks.

But after school in the middle of February as she's walking outside, Kenshin comes over to her, a strangely determined look on his face.

"Hi?" she greets him, very confused.

"Come with me," he tells her, grabbing her by the arm and nearly dragging her across the parking lot.

"Hey! What the fuck, Himura?" she exclaims, trying to get out his grip, but it's pretty tight. "What's the big fucking rush?"

"I need to tell you something, but not here."

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, be vague about it."

"Just get in the car," he snaps, unlocking the doors.

"You were supposed to drive with me today."

He sighs frustratingly, slamming his hands onto the car, his shoulders and back tense. "Kaoru. I will _pay you back_ for this lesson if you just get in the _goddamn _car," he warn her in a hiss that she can't help but find kind of attractive.

"Fine," she answers reluctantly. When he pulls out the school parking lot, definitely breaking multiple laws, she adds, "That whole forceful attitude back there was definitely hot."

He doesn't say anything as he speeds through the streets, maneuvering the car in such a way that she can't help but find a little graceful and a lot attractive. Ugh, this complimenting him thing has to stop.

Eventually after fifteen minutes, she's on a road she's never been on before, never even known _existed_ – it overlooks a rather steep ravine. He pulls to a stop on the shoulder, up against the side of the rock wall.

He exhales, his grip on the wheel tightening.

"Are we even in town?" she asks him because she's at a loss right now.

"Yeah, we're right on the border. I actually live around here," he answers shortly.

She then realizes that she has _no_ idea where this kid lives. In fact, she doesn't know a whole lot about him, does she?

"Why did you bring me here? Do you plan on throwing me off the road?" she jokes.

He clenches his jaw before asking in a controlled voice, "You're seeing Yukishiro on the side?"

Her eyes widen for a moment. "Oh…yeah. Akira and Tomoe know about it, it's part of the plan –"

"Kaoru, you have to listen to me. Yukishiro is _psychotic_. You can't be with him," he blurts, interrupting her.

Now she's more confused than ever. And he used her _first name._ "Are you kidding? I've got him wrapped around my finger."

"For now. He'll turn the tables on you so fast that you won't realize it's happened. _Please_. Take this from someone who's experienced it."

She narrows her eyes at him. "What are you taking about?"

He sighs. "Enishi and I used to be close when we were younger. Like…elementary school."

"Yeah, I know that. I found that out a while ago. Nice how you forgot to mention that to me."

He rolls his eyes at her. "Hey, I'm not exactly _proud_ of it. We were in third grade together and we were both smart for our ages. That's basically how we became friends. But then in fourth grade we were separated and I was put in class with Tomoe, whom I always knew of, but never hung out with since why would girls hang out with boys, you know?"

She finds it a bit unsettling that he's rambling like this – it's really out of character.

"But we became really good friends, actually," he continues, looking down at his lap. "Enishi wasn't a fan and I thought it was just his not wanting to lose me as a friend and his protective nature with his sister." He stops talking, hoping that maybe she can figure the rest out.

If Enishi was upset about Kenshin being friends with Tomoe…it meant that he was _jealous _of Tomoe. Understandable, right? But judging by the expression on Kenshin's face, there was a lot more to it than just plain jealousy. "But…" she starts, getting more horrified by the second, "You were _young_!"

"Yeah, well…"

"Something happened," she states flatly.

"He kissed me," he affirms without emotion. "It wasn't anything. Just a peck. We were eleven, maybe. But I got this long scratch on my cheek when I pulled away that was hard to explain to everyone."

Kaoru feels like vomiting. "Please don't tell me that was your first –"

He smiles a little, looking at her for the first time. "That's cute. You believe in firsts being nice?"

Her face darkens. "No."

He stares at her for a few moments before looking away. "No. Mine was the summer before. At camp. Some girl whose name I don't even remember anymore."

After a few moments, he asks, "Have you heard about my suspension from school last year?"

She nods. "Apparently you punched Enishi in the face."

"He was dating this senior at the time, Sayo. They were, you know, a power couple and they looked _perfect_ together. She was just…one of those ridiculously nice people who was out to save the world. She wanted to fix him, I guess."

He stares out the window at the road. "You know, for two days, that metal ramp was taken down. I think they were replacing or whatever. They had a bunch of signs, warning drivers to be cautious. Normally they'd have a cop or two on either end of this curve to make sure no one sped."

She doesn't understand why he's going off on a tangent about fucking _road conditions_, but she knows he's not brain damaged, so there has to be a point to it.

"Last year I was coming from up there," he says, pointing up the road. "I heard screeching tires and slowed down, waiting for whoever it was to just pass me. But I recognized her car and she…" He shakes his head. "She looked bad. Really bad. She…reminded me of my mom," he admits quietly.

Suicidal.

The silence is thick with tension and she tries to swallow, but her throat is constricted. "She didn't…" she trails off, trying not to imagine a car speeding off the edge of the road.

He lets out a breath. "No. I managed to stop her. Wrecked my car, but…" He shrugs. "At least I can say I stopped one person from killing herself, right?"

She feels an inexplicable urge to grab his hand.

And then she understands what Enishi did.

She gets out of the car just in time to empty the contents of her stomach onto the dirt. There's _no way_ that could've happened – sure, Enishi is a douche, but he's not…_violent_…is he?

Kaoru straightens herself and breathes erratically, wishing she could wash out her mouth with soap and maybe bleach – she _hates_ the after-taste of vomit.

Kenshin wordlessly gets out of the car, sits on the hood and hands her a water bottle. She takes it without question and rinses out her mouth a few times.

"She wouldn't say it out right…but I was able to figure it out from her crying. She told me not to say anything about it. I lied and said the accident was my fault, that I lost control of my car over the turn."

Kaoru plays with the water bottle in her hands, thinking hard. "And Sayo just…continued on with school? Just like that?"

"No, she convinced her parents to let her graduate early since she had enough credits. Everyone was confused by it, but eventually they assumed that she just wanted to get started on _taking on the world_."

"And you punched Enishi for her," she says.

He nods. "I really wanted to kick him in the balls, actually, but it was easier to just slug him."

"Did….does he know? That you know what happened?"

Kenshin shrugs. "I don't know. I think he suspects, but he can't do anything about it. He can't risk it, can he?"

She unscrews the cap of the bottle and rinses out her mouth again.

"Here, I'll take you home," he offers.

"It's not home," she mutters bitterly.

"Fine, the house in which you reside."

They get in the car and sit in silence for a minute. "When did you figure out I was hooking up with Enishi?" she asks him.

"Today. I considered forcing you to skip school so I could warn you."

She almost smiles at that. But then she thinks about Enishi's sister and frowns. "Tomoe…" she trails off.

"She caught us…but she doesn't know anything about Sayo," he finishes for her. "It would crush her. Besides…we don't know the implications of what happened that day. Did she realize after the fact that she _wasn't_ ready and therefore felt violated? Or did he…" he shakes his head. "Well, the point is that it's not my place, even though he _shouldn't_ get away with it, but I'm respecting Sayo's choice."

She wants to ask if maybe Kenshin had feelings for her, but she thinks that's way too personal and keep her mouth closed.

He starts the car again and heads back to her house.

* * *

_Want to hang out now?_

She's close to responding with, "Stay the fuck away, you rapist," but she forces herself to write out, "Can't – driving. Tomorrow?"

"I'll end it tomorrow," she tells Kenshin when he pulls up her driveway. "I know if I see him now I'll just…"

He nods. "Okay. Just…warn me? At least let me know when you've done it."

"Is this your way of asking me for my number?"

He breathes out a laugh and shakes his head. "Whatever boosts your ego a little bit higher."

"Fine – here." She offers her phone to him.

He plugs in his number and hands it back with a flourish. She rolls her eyes and steps out of the car.

"Oh wait, before you leave," he says through the window, sounding muffled to her ears. She watches him reach into the back of his car, sifting through sheets of music and textbooks that never left the back seat from his first day of school until he finds what he's looking for. He lowers the window on the passenger side and hands over a –

"A green Hershey's Kiss? Seriously? From the back of your car?"

"It was in a bag. And I bought it yesterday, relax."

She stares at the chocolate in the palm of his hand. "Why?"

He shrugs. "It's Valentine's Day tomorrow. I think it would be _très déroutant_ if three guys were giving you something on the same day."

Oh. She completely forgot it was that retarded holiday the next day. She smiles a little. "It would be confusing," she admits, taking the piece of candy. "You're trying to be different and yet cute, which is such a cliché. Far beneath you, Himura."

A smirk slowly grows on his face. "Yeah, well, I like making myself an inconvenience to people."

She somehow laughs at this (how she can laugh after today is beyond her). "Because I'm not juggling enough guys already."

His mouth twitches. "It'll just be two after tomorrow."

Her smile fades. "Right." She looks down at the Hershey's Kiss and wonders what the fuck they're even doing right now – this is way beyond that of driving instructing. And daily bantering in the French classroom. It's almost like…

They're _amis_.

"Well…_à demain_," she says, turning on her heel and heading inside.

She doesn't think she's ever had a friend that was…an _equal_ before.

* * *

_But that didn't stop her from spilling Yumi's and Shishio's darkest secrets out of revenge._

_

* * *

_

A/N: Er, yeah, so let me know what you think!

MissGoalie


	19. 16: Enemy

A/N: _**WARNING: I'm using a really, really terrible word in this story that I've never used in any of my fics before. It will only be used once.**_

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**16: Enemy**

_It was one thing to tell everyone whom a friend blew in the back of a club or who bought drugs in the middle of a black tie function. That was familiar territory._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru's not milking Valentine's Day properly. She should be hanging all over Akira like every other girl with a boyfriend, but she's not. Instead, she's glancing over her shoulder, making sure Enishi's not going to get her from behind, which is just borderline paranoiac and insane.

Akira, on the other hand, is finally stepping up to the plate and taking control, which she appreciates because she's just not in the mood right now.

"Are you okay?" Akira whispers in her ear. She's strangely unmoved by it.

"Yeah, sorry, I have a lot on my mind," she admits, patting his hand.

"So I'm spending time with Tomoe while you're with Enishi?"

She scrapes her teeth over her bottom lip, a brief moment of insecurity. "Yes. Keep your phone on you," she reminds him for the fourth time today.

He rolls his eyes and smiles. "I _know_. And then tonight we'll go out somewhere public."

"Right."

She'll be fine after she ends things with Enishi; she'll be back to normal by tonight.

Of course the _one_ time she wants her mother to be home, she's not. Enishi is very pleased by this.

"Finally, we don't have to worry about your mom," he whispers in her ear, kissing her pulse point.

She forces out a grin as she pulls out her cell phone.

'Who're you texting?" he asks, trying to read over her shoulder.

She shoots him a glare. "None of your goddamn business," she tells him coldly, ripping out his hold as she sends her mother a quick text that reads, "Please come home – alone with guy don't want."

That should send her running. Hopefully.

They go upstairs to her room and he kisses her hard on the mouth. As soon as he starts leading her to her bed, she pushes him away.

"Okay, that's it. We're done, I can't do this anymore," she says, trying to catch her breath.

He doesn't look her in the eye. "What?"

She shrugs. "I'm bored. This is getting old. And believe it or not, I'm beginning to feel a little guilty."

He chuckles darkly, pulling her closer to him. "Are you serious? What? Now you suddenly grew a _conscience_?"

She keeps a firm hand on his muscled chest. "Yeah, you could say that. Now get the fuck out, _s'il vous plaît_."

"You know, I really hate it when you sprinkle in French words whenever you talk. It makes you a pretentious bitch."

"And your continuing to hold me like you mean something to me is pissing me off." She tries to shove him again. "Let. Me. Go."

"On Valentine's Day? Come on, Kaoru."

She really, _really_ hates that he's using her first name. Not even Kenshin uses her first name, not often.

Oh fuck, _Kenshin_.

"If you don't let go of me right now, I'm screaming. And my voice is fucking _loud_," she warns him.

He nips at her neck, causing her to freeze. His hands drift to her ass and she needs to _open her mouth and scream._

She tries to push him away, but she's lost a lot of her strength. This can't be happening – this is not her life right now. She's going to wake up in the city and then get ready for another day of school, another day of planning to win Shishio. None of that shit ever happened.

Suddenly she's on her back and Enishi is getting too _handsy_ and all she can think right now is_ why can't I sleep with someone who actually gives a flying fuck about _me_?_

Shishio flashes through her mind and she's suddenly empowered. She wraps her legs around him so she can stab him in the legs with the heels of her precious Jimmy Choos.

It does the trick; he leaps off her with a yelp, his face full of rage.

She quickly takes off a shoe and points it at him threateningly. "Get. Out. Or I'll call the police for sexual assault. You fucking _pig_."

"Fuck you, you fucking _cunt_," Enishi hisses. "You think no one's gonna find out?"

"See if I give a _fuck_."

Finally, Enishi storms out of her room.

She follows after him so she can double-bolt the locks of the front door. After that, the adrenaline leaves her body and she's left shaking.

Thank the fucking _universe_ for Jimmy Choos.

Okay. She needs to focus. Or at least keep calm. She looks down at her dress and immediately decides it needs to be burned. And not only that, her duvet and sheets will have to go as well.

She tears her bed apart, feeling disgusting and violated as she touches them.

Her phone vibrates in her pocket and it scares the shit out of her.

"Calm the fuck down, Kaoru," she tells herself firmly, taking out her phone.

_My phone was off I'm on my way._

She seethes with bitterness as she types out, "Don't bother, I got him out."

She sends another text to Kenshin: _it's done._

Ten seconds later she gets a response from him: _are you okay? BE HONEST._

She holds the phone and stares at the message for a few moments.

_I will be – don't worry about it._

And before she forgets, she sends Akira a brief text, telling him that Enishi should be heading back early.

She practically rips the dress off herself and heads straight to the shower. She spends about an hour in there, scrubbing everything. It's vaguely reminiscent of a few months ago and it makes her angry and upset.

Someone is pounding on the bathroom door.

"Kaoru! Are you trying to scare the _shit_ out of me? What were you doing here with a boy _alone_?" her mother yells through the door.

Kaoru turns off the water and takes a deep breath. "It was nothing. I was being dramatic. Sorry. He's never coming over again."

"You're grounded. Call Akira and let him know you're not going out with him."

Kaoru rolls her eyes. She was going to cancel on him anyway, but her mom forcing her to do it almost makes her want to go out of spite.

"Fine," she grits through her teeth.

She towels herself off and securing her silk robe around her, she walks back to her room where she finds her mother standing by the doorway, staring at the duvet and sheets on the floor.

"Kaoru…what happened," her mother inquires in a low, but strangely calm voice.

Kaoru closes her eyes briefly. "It was nothing. I stopped it before anything happened."

Her mother whips her head around and stares at Kaoru with such a look of concern that it touches her.

"I'm serious. It's done. I'm fine. Let's move on. I'm just sick and tired of that duvet."

Her mother narrows her eyes at Kaoru. "You don't have to hide anything from me. I mean it."

Kaoru looks down at her feet, unable to look at her mother. "Can you just take me to buy a new duvet?"

Her mother sighs, running a hand through her short hair. "Yeah. Sure."

Before Kaoru leaves the room, she sends Akira another text that she's grounded and can't go out.

Then she shuts off her phone.

* * *

She obviously doesn't sleep, despite the brand new duvet and sheets. They're solid white and purple respectively, but she doesn't want to be caught on her back again.

She shudders before opening her bedroom door to head downstairs.

"That Himura kid is outside. He's not –"

"_No_. He's fine. He's just…a friend…" she trails off, the word somewhat foreign on her tongue. Well, that's the first time she's admitted that. She shakes it off and heads out the door, not bothering with breakfast. Maybe she can convince Ken-_Himura_ to stop by Starbucks or something.

At first, she thinks her mother's mistaken: that brand new car, still Japanese, is _not_ Kenshin Himura's car. But then she sees his bright red hair in the driver's seat and is forced to consider the possibility that he _finally_ got rid of his piece of shit car.

"Did Kenshin Himura just go for an upgrade?" she asks, walking up to him.

He flashes her a toothy grin. "Saved up enough. And my first baby died on me yesterday morning."

"Ah, well that explains your absence in French, which is the one class you don't skip very much." She gets in the car through the passenger side. "Leather – _thank you_."

He starts the car up. "Yes, and a functioning sound system that will play my iPod."

"No more stuck CDs," she sighs blissfully.

"Hey, I think you were warming up to Journey that second time it got stuck."

"I'd rather stab my ear with a pencil."

He sneaks glances over at her a few times as they're driving to school. "You didn't sleep," he comments.

She shrugs. "I pull all nighters."

He exhales through his nose, his mouth pursed into a thin line. "Just say the word and I'll kick him in the balls, I _swear –_"

"Kenshin, stop. Nothing happened. I already stabbed him with a pair of Jimmy Choos."

He gives her a strange look. "What?"

"Yeah. I'm well equipped. If you already didn't know that by now, then shame on you."

He laughs. "Okay, fine. But if he does _anything –_"

"You don't have to be my knight in shining armor. I don't want you to be," she tells him too gently; she wanted to sound harsher.

"This goes way beyond chivalry, Kaoru."

"Please just call me Kamiya. There's no need to be all _personal_ now."

Kenshin rolls his eyes. "Fine, _Kamiya_," he drawls.

He chooses Red Hot Chili Peppers to listen as a compromise.

* * *

"_Kaoru_ – what _happened_ yesterday?" Akira asks in a heated whisper, gripping her hand. "Enishi came home _way earlier_ than planned and I had to go all Mission: Impossible to sneak out."

"We had a disagreement. Look, Akira, I have to go to class – I have to present something. We'll talk later."

* * *

_We need to talk TONIGHT._

Tomoe.

Kaoru stares at the text, mostly indifferent, but just a little bit nervous.

She shuts her phone off for the rest of the day because lately her battery just hasn't been keeping its charge.

* * *

_It was a complete other matter to tell everyone that Shishio, the self-proclaimed Lady Killer, actually slept with men, prostitutes in particular, quite often during his breaks with Yumi, and that Yumi, while underage _and_ dating Shishio, slept with her math teacher for good grades. Those types of scandals didn't happen often._

_

* * *

_

A/N: I was technically done yesterday, but I felt this was a bit inappropriate to post on actual V-Day…so that's why it's up today instead haha.

Please review!

MissGoalie


	20. 05: Whispered

A/N: And true natures should start revealing themselves starting now.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**05: Whispered**

_For a while, Kaoru actually believed that Yumi was sugar, spice, and everything nice._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru is studying a driver's manual, getting ready to take her driving test in a few weeks. Finally, she's done with driver's ed, which was repetitive and _so_ boring. Not to mention all those kids were half brain dead. But soon enough, she will have her license and she can go wherever she pleases, not having to rely on creepy taxi drivers, over-bearing mothers, or obnoxious redheads.

But she's worrying her bottom lip, waiting for Tomoe to stop by.

Thankfully, Enishi didn't go to school yesterday, but she's expecting the worst.

But she's ready, like always. She has to be.

She can faintly hear the doorbell from downstairs and forces herself to exhale through her nose. She hasn't told Akira what happened, but she's pretty sure that Enishi must've said _something_ to Tomoe about it.

She keeps her eyes down on the manual, even when she hears Tomoe walk up the stairs and open her door.

"Kaoru. What happened with my brother?"

Kaoru looks up to find Tomoe leaning back against the shut door, her face expressionless, but her lips pursed into a thin line.

"I ended it with him," Kaoru answers coolly, flipping a page. Ugh, great, signs. She hates how many stupid signs that exist – she doubts she'll even see half of these in her life.

"I thought the plan was to end it in another month."

"Yeah, well, in case you didn't realize, which you should've by now, your brother isn't exactly a _gentleman_. There's only so much a person can take. He went past my limit," she explains, narrowing her eyes at Tomoe.

"Oh, _now_ you care about what's socially appropriate? You're allowing yourself to be _used _as a fake girlfriend."

Kaoru slams her book shut, gracefully shifting so she's sitting up properly off the edge of her bed. "I did this because I felt badly for you. I agreed to this because I thought you guys were just good people who were getting fucked over for no reason at all. Call it a sense of _charity_, if you will. But Enishi…" she shakes her head, "It was too far. I'm not playing _that_ game without getting _something _out of it. It wasn't enough, I'm sorry."

Tomoe shoots Kaoru a nasty glare. "You think this is a _game_? It's _my life_!"

"Yes, your _life_, where you always get _exactly_ what you want: leads in all the school plays, solos in all the choir performances, perfect grades. And the _one_ thing that doesn't go your way is that you can't be public with your boyfriend because your brother is psychotic. I know a _hell_ of a lot more people who have to deal with worse than that," Kaoru lists, getting to her feet so she can properly stare Tomoe down.

"Oh, you mean like _you_? Flouncing around in your designer outfits, acting like you're too good for us?" Tomoe retorts rather maliciously.

"No, I don't mean me," Kaoru answers quietly. "And I just meant that I'm not going to be hooking up with anyone on the side anymore. I'm Akira's fake girlfriend _only_."

Tomoe rolls her eyes, a hint of a cold smile on her face as she crosses her arms over her chest as she shakes her head. "You _really_ couldn't wait three more weeks? Was it really _that_ big of a deal?"

Kaoru looks to the ceiling, hoping to whatever deity that may or may not exist would grant her patience to deal with this painfully naïve girl.

"Okay, Tomoe. Let me break this down for you because you've clearly been sheltered, given that you've been in a relationship with the same boy for years. What Enishi and I had was not like being boyfriend and girlfriend. We were, for lack of a better or more accurate term, _fuck buddies_. He would come to my room, we'd hook up, and then he'd leave."

"I'm _aware_," Tomoe grits out. "I'm not _twelve_."

"Well, after a certain point in time, the guy isn't going to just be _satisfied_ with second base, if you catch my drift. I never wanted to blow your brother nor do I want to sleep with him. Hence, ending it."

Tomoe cocks her head to the side. "Are you a virgin?" she asks in disbelief.

_I wish._

"No," Kaoru responds with a roll of her eyes. "But that doesn't mean I'll fuck whatever _moves_. Sorry to disappoint," she adds icily.

"I just don't understand why you couldn't lead him on for a couple of more weeks."

"Because, quite frankly, Enishi is over a head taller than me and a lot stronger. I wouldn't put it past him to try something."

The silence is tense. Kaoru looks Tomoe directly in the eyes, despite internally berating herself for going there; she wanted to avoid doing that.

Tomoe then exhales in disbelief. "Kenshin told you, didn't he?"

Kaoru slowly crosses her arms. "At least he gave a fuck. After that day when I dumped Enishi and he came home early…both you and Akira only cared about Enishi finding out about your relationship." She then shrugs. "You didn't think to maybe ask if I was okay? Ask _me _what happened?"

Tomoe just shakes her head again, not looking at Kaoru as she runs a hand through her hair. "No, because while my brother has a temper, he would never hurt someone."

"I'd love for you to say that to Kenshin's face," Kaoru snaps.

"Kenshin Himura is _not_ a victim, Kaoru. What? Enishi did something when he was eleven and _stupid_? You _did_ hear that Himura punched Enishi in the face for _no good reason last year_, right?"

"I'm sure he deserved it."

"You know what, I'm done talking about this. My brother has a good heart and I don't need to defend him to the likes of _you_. Your heart is as cold as ice. I really thought that deep down you were a kind person…but I guess you just can't let go of that Ice Queen façade, can you?"

This comment stabs Kaoru more than she will ever admit.

"I'm done," Kaoru tells Tomoe calmly. "Break starts this weekend and I'm going away. When I come back, you guys are on your own. Now," she lifts her chin up slightly towards the door. "You can see yourself out, right?"

Tomoe stares back at Kaoru. "I feel sorry for you."

"Oh, spare me the Lifetime movie shit, would you? Just get out."

* * *

As an "I'm sorry we couldn't take you in for the holidays, you know it's for your own good" apology gift, her dad sent her plane tickets to St. John's along with a bookmarked page of the hotel she'll be staying at.

_Bring a friend!_ is written on the page.

She wonders if her dad is as cruel as she is.

She wishes she could bring her brother, but since he's in college he still has classes. Why hasn't he bothered visiting her anyway?

There's only one other possibility, really.

"Mom?"

Her mother is bouncing checks at the kitchen counter, glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. "Yes?"

Kaoru takes a breath. "My dad gave me tickets to St. John's. Everything's paid for. He said to bring a friend, but I'm sick of everyone here," she half-lies, twirling the tickets in her hand. "I was thinking maybe you'd like to go? You could finally get a massage and stop complaining about your back," she jokes.

Her mother sighs and doesn't look up from her work. "I don't want anything that was paid for by your father. Besides, I'm pulling double-shifts every other day next week. Why don't you bring one of your city friends with you?"

Kaoru's rather glad that her mother is too focused on her work because she misses Kaoru's carefully placed mask slip off her face for a brief moment, revealing rejection and pain. But she slaps it back on with a cool smile. "Oh, silly me, good idea. I'll just need a ride to the airport, if that's okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

Kaoru walks back to her room and shreds the second plane ticket into irredeemable pieces.

* * *

"Hey, Dad, thanks for the trip. I'm going to bring a friend from here. I'll talk to you soon. I love you," Kaoru says, leaving a message on her dad's cell phone.

This could be very good – she'll have time to herself, relaxing on a hot beach with plenty of hot guys around who won't know a _thing_ about her.

She ignores how fucking lonely and depressing it all is.

* * *

Ten days later, a barely-there tan (her skin is too flawless to be exposed to the harsh sun for very long), and three random hook ups later, she's back in that hick-fuck town. The first thing she does is change her relationship status to single and brush off any and all questions from her mother, asking her how her vacation with her _friend_ was.

She doesn't think her mother would be very pleased to know that she went alone to a Caribbean island. But it's not that different from her European escapades, right?

She's not looking forward to attending school.

Thankfully, she can't really imagine Enishi's hands on her anymore, but it doesn't stop her from fearing him just a little.

But she's Kaoru-_fucking_-Kamiya – she's strong as hell and she's going to get through this. Soon enough it'll be June and she'll _never_ have to come back.

_That's_ a comforting thought.

* * *

She has a free first period so she's walking down the hallway alone. Her Christian Louboutin shoes click on the tile, echoing against the lockers. She's humming one of the songs that the choir is going to perform on Friday in front of the school – they're trying to copy that dumb TV show with kids who randomly sing in the hallways.

Such a dumb concept, really. Who finds that shit entertaining?

_Slam_.

She's up against the lockers and she's trapped between Enishi's ridiculously muscular arms, a leering grin on his face. "You think you go away with that, Kamiya?" he whispers in her ear. "I'm telling _everyone_ today what we've been doing."

"Like they'll believe you," she hisses. "Don't you have class?"

"You're a _whore_ – that's what people see you as. So yeah, they're going to believe it if I admit that you were getting your pretty Chanel dresses wrinkled by sucking my dick everyday."

Kaoru ducks under his arm and struts away, not looking back. She grips her bag tightly so her hands will stop shaking.

* * *

People are talking all day, sneaking glances at her and whispering behind hands.

It's weird – in the city, people would _never_ doubt that she didn't sleep with anyone. She had a rather similar reputation as Megumi, in a sense. People claimed all the time that they slept with her, but after denying it, people would believe Kaoru without question.

Here, it's not the same.

Akira keeps trying to talk to Kaoru, but she keeps blowing him off. Besides, shouldn't he know that their deal is done by now?

Once during the day she hears someone say in the hallway, "I heard she fucked him in the middle of the lacrosse field last week. Lights on and _everything._"

"Yeah, because that makes a whole lot of fucking sense – she was _away_ last week. Dipshits," Kenshin says in passing, rolling his eyes at the chattering sophomores. They scatter away out of terror.

Kaoru sends him a half-smile.

He shakes his head and stares at the ceiling before glancing back at her. "_Imb__é__ciles_," he mouths to her.

She nods back solemnly.

It'll blow over soon.

* * *

_Until Yumi hooked up with Kaoru's crush at a party right in front of her._

"_Oh, Kaoru, I'm sorry. That guy was such a bastard he just _threw_ himself on me," Yumi explained later at brunch the next day. "He was just lucky that I'm not with Shishio now."_

_Kaoru smiled understandingly. "Of course. I knew there was a reason for it. No harm done."_

_It was the last straw; she planned on fucking _ruining_ this bitch._

_

* * *

_

A/N: Well these chapters are certainly fun, aren't they?

Please review!

MissGoalie


	21. 14: Mistake

A/N: May the last third of this story commence!

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**14: Mistake**

_It was the morning after when his butler came in and offered her breakfast did she realize that she was expertly played in a twisted game of her choosing. _

_She should've realized how fucking _stupid_ it all was._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru's honestly surprised that no one from guidance or something is seeking her out about all these rumors – there are people actually saying she's had sex on school property – isn't that a little worrisome?

They get wilder by the day, by the _period_.

These hicks are very impressive, she will admit.

After the second day, someone from the guidance office _finally_ calls her in to awkwardly ask her about the rumors. It lasts for about thirty seconds because the counselor couldn't handle being on the receiving end of Kaoru's death glare.

After that quick meeting, she goes straight to the auditorium where the choir is rehearsing for Friday's performance. Kenshin's by the piano, looking ready to die of boredom as their music director babbles on about acing this concert because there will be some college scouts for Tomoe. Which is really stupid because she's graduating in a few months – shouldn't she know what colleges she wants to go to? Not that Kaoru _cares_ or anything…

She notices that Kamatari, the male lead singer is missing. Soujiro Seta is standing in his place instead. He's a random kid in her history class that makes ridiculous time-period jokes that are inappropriate, somewhat nerdy, and yet highly hilarious.

Before joining everyone on stage, she stops by the piano and whispers, "Where's Kamatari?"

"Tonsillitis. Seta's taking his place. I always thought he was the better singer," Kenshin answers, pretending to play the keys.

She admires his hands for a hot second before getting up on stage.

"Hey, Kamiya, have you been called out on your sexually deviant ways?" Soujiro jokes in a quiet voice.

She rolls her eyes. "Oh, yes. In fact, the five o'clock news will be doing a segment on me, warning everyone that I'm continually attaching myself to dicks. Men, beware."

He grins and she realizes he's quite cute. "Or _get prepared_."

She almost laughs. Instead, she slaps his arm before walking to her spot on the risers.

They start another run through of the song that involves Tomoe and Kamatari (now Soujiro) singing solos. She suddenly wishes she weren't swaying and harmonizing in the background.

* * *

"That bitch, I fucking _hate_ her. Every time I _look_ at her I just want to pull her hair out," Kaoru rants as she gets into Kenshin's car, not bothering with a proper greeting.

"Well, hello there. I'm well, thanks, and yourself? I see, who are you talking about exactly?"

She rolls her eyes at him. "Tomoe."

He eyes her warily before starting his car. "What happened?"

"What happened is that she went to my house before break and fucking…she just bitched me out because I wouldn't let myself be _used_ by her ass of a brother. And _how _she doesn't see what a fucking _lunatic_ he is just…_boggles_ my mind."

Kenshin inhales and exhales slowly. "Tomoe always tries to see the best in people. She's blind to people's bad sides, and she's _especially_ blind to her brother. You have to understand that he's a _completely_ different person when it comes to her," he explains evenly as he drives out of the school.

"Well, she also claimed that there was nothing good about me, so I feel like that whole 'I see the best in everyone' _façade_ a load of bullshit."

He glances at her from the corner of his eye. "It's because you were trying to tell her the truth, which she's always avoided. It's also easier to see the bad in you and not in her brother."

She clenches her jaw and looks out her window. "She said I had no heart, basically," she admits quietly.

"You know that's not true," he tells her.

"Sometimes I wonder."

He doesn't say anything more, which is just as well.

* * *

"Okay, honestly, what the fuck is going on between you and Kamiya?"

It's sheer dumb luck when she walks by the perpendicular hallway with the benches by the windows, occupied by Akira and one of his friends – Juro or Jiro. She thinks it's Juro, but she actually doesn't give a shit.

"I don't know – she's completely freaked out about these rumors so we haven't talked about it yet. I want to stay together, but…she already changed her status to single on Facebook. It's a mess," Akira answers with a frustrating sigh.

Kaoru's brow furrows at this comment. A little out of character for Akira…not to mention the fact that shouldn't he _know that it's over_?

"So fucked up. Do you believe it? That Kaoru was really hooking up with Enishi?"

"You _have _to keep this quiet…but yeah. Tomoe and I both knew that. It was part of the plan."

Kaoru's hand flies to her mouth. Someone _knew_ about this?

"Oh, that's _smart_. But you'll _have_ to break up with her though. It's the principle of the thing," Juro replies.

"If she publically denies it, then I can just claim that I trust my girlfriend's opinion over everyone else's. I can't believe she's not doing anything to defend herself."

"Maybe she knows that whatever she says won't make a difference."

"Then that makes it easier – I can take control of this. Honestly, I'm rather enjoying this. It's…I don't know. Fun, sort of. It's terrible to say, I know, but it's true. Besides, Kaoru is hot."

She's feeling nauseous right now, especially since this sounds _so_ familiar.

"Dude, she's more than hot. You're so lucky, man. Even though it's fake, you still get to do shit with her."

Akira smiles with a strange mixture of sheepishness and smugness.

_What happened to the Akira she met in September?_

"If you like her, why don't you dump Tomoe and just be with Kaoru? It would be so much easier."

Akira sighs. "Because I _love_ Tomoe. She's my best friend. But at the same time…we got together so young and I feel like…" he trails off.

"You never got to fool around. I get it, believe me. But you better watch yourself."

Kaoru makes sure her heels don't make a noise as she walks back the way she came.

Something is snapping within her and all she can see is red. There's no fucking way those two are going to get away unscathed. They must be fucking _retarded_ if they didn't think she give a fuck about being a pawn. She was a fucking _queen_ and she'll treat those two like treasons of a monarchy.

Exterminate them.

* * *

"Hey, Soujiro," she greets the smiling boy, looping her arm through his. "Do you want to help me with a little something?"

He grins. "Anything for you, doll face."

"First off, no pet names unless you don't want to keep your balls."

"Noted."

"And just come over to my house at around four? I'll explain everything then."

"Color me curious."

"But," she brings a finger to her mouth and adds, "Shhh."

"Also noted."

She smirks as she walks with purpose out of school. For the first time in months, she feels completely in control and in her element. Planning sabotage is a guilty pleasure and she's been denied it for way too long.

Friday is going to be fun.

* * *

_Spilling all those secrets about Yumi, Shishio, and Megumi were like a suicide-bombing mission – she knew it would ruin not only them, but also herself._

_She knew by doing that it would be the final straw for her father; it was just enough to get her sent away._

_

* * *

_

A/N: I finally compiled everything I've written on LiveJournal onto one post, so if you check my LJ account and go to the "FICS" tag, you'll see the post with everything listed, including a bunch of RK fics (and HP and Gilmore Girls). So check it out!

Please review!

MissGoalie


	22. 15: Storm

A/N:

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**15: Storm**

_For a brief moment in time after the Great Reveal, everyone feared and admired her._

_For a brief moment in time, she was on top._

_

* * *

_

She's supposed to wear black bottoms and a white top with black shoes, but she decides to _fuck it all_ and struts into school wearing a killer black dress and red Manolos.

The way guys were giving themselves whiplash in the hallways never failed to amuse her.

"Well, well, don't you like hot and ready to kill."

She grins at Soujiro, who falls into step beside her. "Thanks. I try."

"You ready? This is going to be fucking _crazy_. I can't wait. The school's gonna _explode_."

She delicately pats him on the back. "Down, boy. And you told the band to keep playing no matter what, right?"

"_Oui, oui, mademoiselle_."

She laughs. "Your accent is atrocious."

"Hey, I took Latin for five minutes for a _reason_. I'll see you later."

She waves at him and goes on her way. When she passes by Akira, she doesn't spare him a glance.

* * *

"I know that look – what are you planning," Kenshin asks her, his voice low in the middle of passing time.

"What're you talking about?" she shoots back innocently.

"You're upset."

"No, I'm pissed off and determined. But don't worry about it. I'll be fine."

"Does this have to do with Tomoe and Akira?"

"Not necessarily."

He grabs her forearm is a strong grip. "Kamiya, whatever you have planned, leave Tomoe out of it."

She laughs, but she's not amused at all. "And why should I?"

"Her life is fucked up enough as it is and you know it. Do whatever the fuck you want with Akira – I always thought he was spineless and I think he's become a complete douche ever since you get involved with him. But _she's a_ _good person_."

"God, you really do love her don't you." She rips her arm out of his grasp and walks faster.

He catches up. "I don't like to see good people get fucked over and I wouldn't want anyone to do the same to you."

"But I'm not a good person, did you ever think of that? Maybe I am just a cold, hard bitch."

"Come on, Kaoru, you know that's not true, cut the pity party," he says sharply.

"Akira wants me around for his twisted physical _desires_ and Tomoe just wants me so she can avoid seeing her brother's true nature. I'm _done_. And they should know _better_ than to use people like that," she hisses, anger flashing in her eyes.

"Then don't stoop down to their level."

She shakes her head. "No, I have to do this. They _can't_ get away with it."

"Just so you know, if you go through with whatever the fuck you're planning, then we're done."

She clenches her jaw. "Fine. It's not like we're _besties_ or anything."

"Fine, suit yourself."

If he doesn't _support_ this then _so what_ – this is who she is.

* * *

Of course the director freaks out when he sees Kaoru's outfit, but he manages to convince himself that no one will see her since she's in the second row from the bottom. Besides, Soujiro and Tomoe are the stars.

So he thinks.

The concert goes by smoothly and Kaoru finds herself glancing at the piano from time to time, but Kenshin is focused on the music sheets in front of him.

She has to catch herself a few times because she ends up singing louder than she means to, drawing looks from the few people near her.

Soujiro glances over to her, waiting, anxious, and totally excited. Her pulse is thrumming under her skin and she realizes this is the first time she's ever going to perform in front of people.

Her descent down the risers causes people to slip up in their singing and when she's level with Tomoe, the girl is frozen and doesn't know what to do when Kaoru takes the mike and belts out the last solo line.

The piano stops and doesn't play again.

But the band plays with even more gusto and the school goes _nuts_.

_Goodbye, scholarships_, Kaoru thinks with a twisted thrill as she soaks up the limelight and attention.

In the end, she whispers in Tomoe's ear, "_You have no idea what you just unleashed._"

* * *

She's bombarded as soon as she steps off stage. She vaguely hears gushing compliments and demands to lead the school play and excited tears from the director.

But the biggest satisfaction she gets out of this is seeing Tomoe crying her eyes out off stage.

"I'm hosting a party tonight and you're the guest of honor," Soujiro says, lightly brushing his arm against hers as they head to the cafeteria for lunch.

"Oh, brilliant. Then you wouldn't mind my providing the beverages, would you?"

Soujiro's eyes flash. "Not at all."

"Of course, I don't have my license, so I can only front the money, but I'm sure that's not a problem?" Kaoru asks, her eyes wide and soft as she pulls out and a wad of cash.

Soujiro plucks the bills out of her hold. "It would be my pleasure," he says as he pockets the money.

Kaoru pulls Soujiro down by his shoulder to place a light kiss on his cheek. "Pick me up at seven?"

There's just one more thing she has to do.

* * *

She's sipping her water bottle, waiting for Akira to enter the cafeteria. There's a crowd around her, talking, laughing, admiring, but she's on the hunt right now and can't be bothered with them and they don't seem to mind.

There.

She gracefully gets to her feet and strides over to him, her face contorting in anger.

"You fucking _liar_!" she screeches, causing the entire room to fall silent.

Akira freezes in his tracks, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

"You thought you could _get away_ with _cheating one me_?" she continues with a mirthless laugh. Akira's jaw slacks. "Oh, yeah, I found out, alright, you son of a bitch. It goes without saying that we're _done_, so you can go off and fuck Tomoe _all you want_," she finishes with a grand gesture before leaving the cafeteria and an explosion of whispers and she thinks she can hear Enishi yelling behind her.

This is _so_ much better than any high she could get from a drug.

* * *

The outfit she's wearing is probably more appropriate for a rock club or something, but she'll never dress appropriately for a high school house party _ever_.

At a quarter past seven she hears a car horn go off a few times. _Smart boy, arriving late._

When she gets in his car, a dark BMW, he lowly whistles, "It goes without saying, really," he greets her.

She smiles.

"You were very generous with your contribution," he continues as he pulls out of her driveway.

She shrugs. "I don't drink piss," she answers simply.

Silence.

"You play beer pong?"

Kaoru gives him a pointed look, but Soujiro only smiles.

"I'll teach you."

She rolls her eyes. "I suppose it's a right of passage, living in a small town. But I'm not drinking beer."

"I'm sure we'll find something that's acceptable."

* * *

It's not as bad as she thought it was going to be. In fact, she's having a relatively good time.

It helps that she's pretty kick ass at beer pong, which is definitely making Soujiro fall in love with her on the spot. So when they beat the second team to go against them, she brings him down for a kiss because she's sufficiently tipsy and he seems like a good kisser, which she's pleased to confirm as he expertly slips his tongue in her mouth.

And the night goes on – she floats around, she drinks, she hooks up with Soujiro and the cycle repeats. She vaguely hears people talking about Akira getting a black eye and Enishi being _taken in_ or something, but she doesn't give a fuck about them.

Basically, everyone is getting his and her comeuppance today and she loves every second of it.

She pulls out her phone to check the time and isn't really surprised to find it dead; she forgot to charge it before heading out.

"Sou," she says, patting him on the chest. "Do y'have a charger for my phone?" she asks, holding out her iPhone.

"Yeah, my room," he drawls, gesturing wildly above him.

She weaves through the crowd of people, pleased with herself. She's half tempted to stand at the top of the stairs and watch over them all like the Queen Bitch she is, but she really has to charge her phone.

She finds his room prettily easily – it's typically covered with signs and bumper stickers. Looking up to the ceiling, she pounds on the door. "Whoever's fucking in there, you better stop because I'm coming in," she yells, waits a few seconds, and opens the door.

Thankfully, there's no one in the room. She flips on the lights and is surprised to find the room so _tidy_ – Soujiro doesn't seem like the kind of person who would keep his room so pristine. The charger is right by his bed so she plugs her phone in, takes a seat on his made bed and looks around.

Not a ton of books on the shelves, but there's enough to show that he does read outside of class every once in a while. There are a lot more knick-knacks and pictures – most seem to be of friends, but there are a few of his family, he being the only child and a chocolate-colored dog, but she doesn't remember seeing one downstairs. Maybe the dog recently died?

Her head is buzzing and it's kind of annoying now that she's not part of the party. The floor under her thumps with the bass. She hears her phone chime, signaling that it now has a bit of a charge.

She wonders what Kenshin's doing – he was definitely invited to the party since all the musicians were here, but she guesses he was _serious_ about wanting nothing to do with her. This bothers her a lot, despite the amount of alcohol in her system at the moment.

Her phone beeps, signaling a missed call…a voicemail…another missed call…another…another…_what is going on_?

She quickly punches into the lock code and is confused at seeing so many missed calls and voicemails from her mother. Reality crashes in and the room definitely drops at least ten degrees as she plays the first voicemail, expecting and knowing the worst.

"_Kaoru! Mom-your grandma is being rushed to the hosp –"_

Kaoru rips her phone out of the charger and calls the cab company.

"I'll give _one hundred bucks_ to the first car that gets here first!" she screams at the man on the other end of the line, who claimed it would take about fifteen minutes for the car to arrive.

She almost trips in her heels as she runs out the door, which _never_ happens, and she almost shoves a couple because they were starting to making out by the stairway.

"Kaoru! Whaddaya doin'?" Soujiro slurs, throwing an arm around her shoulders. How much more did he drink when she was upstairs?

She slips out from under his arm. "I have to go – I'll see you later," she mutters, running out the front door and speed walking to the edge of his driveway. Her feet are throbbing as she waits impatiently.

Thankfully, the car arrives not even five minutes later, tires screeching as the car comes to a stop. She hops in the car and drops a few bills in the passenger seat. "Now see if you can rush to the hospital in five minutes and then you'll get another," she tells him.

The car jerks forward.

* * *

_Of course she could never truly and completely win; it was quite lonely being that high up._

_

* * *

_

A/N: I'm pretty sure you all know what's coming up next because you're smart cookies.

Please review!

MissGoalie


	23. 19: Lost

A/N: Sorry for the delay – busy with new writing projects on LiveJournal and I've been thinking about how to write this section out properly. On the plus side, I think this is the longest update yet! This will probably change though…

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**19: Lost**

_The first time Kaoru had ever confronted death was when she was six years old. Her grandfather on her dad's side had died and she barely remembered him; she only saw him twice in her life._

_

* * *

_

The driver manages to get Kaoru to the hospital in four minutes, so she makes good on her promise.

She wants to rip off her shoes and run barefoot, but there isn't any time and she's sprinting as fast as she can in four-inch heels to the emergency room because that's where her grandmother would be taken, right?

"Mika Hasegawa, my grandma, is she here?" Kaoru asks, completely out of breath. She's _so_ not meant for exercising.

The nurse takes her time typing, which pisses Kaoru off.

"_Today_, do you _mind_?" Kaoru shrieks.

The nurse shoots Kaoru a look that isn't a glare, but it's a hard stare before focusing on the computer.

When the nurse's eyes widen, Kaoru loses the support of her legs and has to grip the desk. "Where –"

"_Kaoru_!"

Kaoru whips around to find her mother standing in pajamas, her face streaked with tears, a balled up tissue in her shaking hands.

"Come on," her mother states flatly. "Time to leave."

"B-…" Kaoru starts, finding it difficult to breathe.

"Too late. Let's go."

Kaoru looks at the nurse, who is watching mother and daughter with undisguised pity and sadness.

Kaoru looks away and slowly follows her mother out of the hospital, feeling like she left something behind.

* * *

The car ride is unbearably silent. The alcohol in Kaoru's system is kicking in again and she feels lethargic and stupid.

Then her mother snorts. "Of course you're drunk," she says acidly.

"My phone hasn't been keeping its charge and it died," Kaoru explains quietly.

"You were being an irresponsible little _bitch_."

Silence.

"I loved her and I would –"

Her mother laughs, cruel and harsh. "Really? I find that hard to believe right now."

"Oh get off your high horse and fuck yourself," Kaoru snaps.

They pull into the driveway and her mother jerks to a stop.

"Go sober up and make sure you're ready by nine – we have to meet for the reading of her will."

* * *

The stuffy room is unbearably tense as they wait for the lawyer to come in with the appropriate documents.

Earlier, Kaoru sent Soujiro a text saying that her grandmother died, but she hasn't heard back yet – she doesn't expect a response until the late afternoon.

After a few minutes, the lawyer comes in with a folder and a pair of hideous tortoise shell glasses that make him look like a possible molester.

"Well, Mrs. Hasegawa didn't have much left in her savings, but she wants what's left to be given to her daughter and grandchildren."

Oh _fuck_ – she has to tell _Sano_. Or is that her mother's job? "Mom did you –"

"Kaoru, please keep your mouth shut. This is hard enough for me as it is without your talking. Please continue, Mr. Watanabe."

Kaoru really wants to slap her mother across the face.

He clears his throat awkwardly. "All jewelry is to be passed onto her daughter, Chiyo, except her sapphire necklace, which is to go to Kaoru –"

"Ex_cuse_ me?" her mother interrupts, her eyebrows high on her forehead.

Kaoru starts rubbing her fingers into her temple, feeling her hangover kick in. She had a feeling her grandmother telling the story behind it would mean she would get it, but she _really _doesn't want it.

She doesn't believe in mementos.

"I'm _dying_ to know how you convinced her to change her will," her mother snaps at Kaoru.

"I didn't do anything! I didn't even _want_ that necklace. It represents everything I don't want in my life," Kaoru retorts before she can stop herself.

"Oh, you don't want a loving husband to prove how much he loves you? Probably for the best, anyway, you'd probably ruin him."

She doesn't bother correctly her mother on how wrong she is about the necklace. But she does tell her mother to shut up and let the man do his job.

* * *

Before she falls asleep that night, she realizes that Soujiro never texted her back.

* * *

Sunday includes nothing more than cold fronts, reorganizing of drawers, and waiting for Sano to _fucking call her back._

Finally in the late afternoon, her phone starts vibrating on her bed.

"Sano! What the _fuck_ I called you _yesterday_," Kaoru rants, pacing in her room that's really too small in comparison to her room in the city.

"_I went to the Hamptons with some lacrosse friends. I just got back – I can't believe she _died_ – she was really old, right?_"

She grips her phone tightly. "Yeah, she was. So, when are you coming up?"

"_For what?_"

"Sano, I know you're thick, but you're not _retarded_. The _funeral_, jackass. It's Tuesday."

"_Oh…_"

Her heart drops to her stomach. "Sano, you _have_ to go. I don't care if you haven't seen her in years – you have to go for _me_."

"_I can't – I have lacrosse and I'm actually starting now._"

"I think going to a funeral is a fucking _great_ excuse to miss a match or _whatever_," she snaps into the phone.

"_That _whatever _is what's keeping me in this school and you know that,_" he points out.

"Sano, I ne –"

"_Look, I'm really sorry, but I haven't forgiven Mom for walking out on us and I just…I can't go. It's too awkward and I know I'm going to lose my temper on her, which she doesn't really deserve with her mom being dead._"

She feels strangely numb, unable to believe that this was her _life_ right now. Of course she's aware that Sano and their mother barely speak, but she thought that maybe his love for her would be stronger than his hatred for their mother.

She shouldn't be surprised.

* * *

On Monday morning, she plans on lying in bed, but her mom walks up to her closed door and says, "You better get ready or you'll be late for school."

Kaoru laughs into her pillow because this is a _fucking joke._

_

* * *

_

When she enters the school, everyone is staring at her and not in a good way.

They're all _glaring _at her, she realizes when one girl tries to give her a snotty look, but ends up looking like she has an unfortunate twitch. She would ask Soujiro what the hell that's about, but he's not in school today and he _still_ hasn't texted her back or returned any of her calls.

This is probably the worst she's ever felt in her entire life and now she officially has no one. Great.

* * *

In between classes she goes into the bathroom and checks her eye makeup to make sure it's still in tact.

* * *

By lunch, she's figured out that the party on Friday night got busted about five minutes after she "mysteriously" disappeared and Soujiro got his stomach pumped soon after.

Of course she's blamed for all accounts because "_he definitely wouldn't have drank as much if that bitch wasn't pouring drinks down his mouth._"

Lovely how rumors spread.

Besides, she would _never_ force anyone to _drink more_, not after what happened to her. But they don't know that, no one does.

* * *

The late bell rings and she spontaneously decides that she doesn't want to go to her last two classes. Why should she? She has Calculus and she doesn't want to put up with that decrepit bitch and she doesn't want to see Kenshin ignoring her.

She needs air.

She speed walks to the front door, inhaling the cold March air as she tries not to think about her grandma and how she's _dead_, she's actually _gone forever_ and why does her chest _hurt_?

The doors behind her are thrown open as Saito of all people comes over to her and grips her upper arms. "Kamiya, you _have_ to breathe," Saito says, something close to concern in his tone.

She whimpers, trying to inhale but her lungs won't _move_.

She falls to her knees, tearing holes into her tights and with the sharp pain of the concrete rubbing against her skin, she gulps in air, as if she's been underwater for over a minute.

"Jesus Christ," Saito mutters, shaking his head as he straightens himself out. "You'll need to go home. Come on, I'll take you to the nurse and we'll call –"

"_No_," Kaoru interrupts him, her voice rough. She tries to clear her throat. "She's busy planning the funeral, anyway."

"What funeral?"

"My grandma's."

Saito sighs and rolls his eyes. "Get up." He holds out his arms, allowing her to grab them so he could pull her up to her feet. "Normal people stay _home_ when a family member dies."

"Trust me, it wasn't my idea," she mutters, following him back into the school.

Before she walks into the nurse's office, she catches Kenshin a few feet away from her, coming from the opposite direction of their Calculus class.

Guess she wasn't the only one who thought the skip.

He glances up at her ghostly face, catches the holes in her tights and his eyes soften a little.

"Himura, don't you have class now?" Saito states rather than questions.

Kenshin rolls his eyes.

"Never mind that. You take her home."

"What?" Kenshin and Kaoru both exclaim simultaneously.

"Well, she needs to get home, you clearly don't want to be in class. It's a win-win."

"I really doubt that's legal," she points out, but not really caring because Kenshin driving her is a lot better than her mother doing it.

"Just bring your car around for her, alright?"

Kenshin's eyes linger on her for a moment before he leaves.

"Thank you," Kaoru says to Saito, curling a piece of hair behind her ear.

Saito nods. "I'm sorry for your loss."

She clenches her jaw and Kenshin's car whips around the turn. Before she walks to his car, she turns to Saito with an innocent smile, holding her hand out.

He raises an eyebrow at her. "You're joking."

"It's been a trying day."

Saito glances around him furtively before slipping a cigarette into her open palm. "Get the hell out of here."

She twirls the cigarette in her fingers as she walks into Kenshin's car.

* * *

The ride is silent for the first minute or so as she lights her cigarette and inhales as much as she can.

"You had a panic attack?" he asks quietly.

She snorts lightly, smoke coming out of her nose. "I guess so." She feels like she should put up a bigger fight and not talk to him, but she's just _tired_.

"I'm guessing it wasn't because of the party or Seta."

She sighs. "No. But I do feel shitty about that." She brings her cigarette back up to her lips.

He shrugs. "You shouldn't – that kid never keeps track of his alcohol intake. And as for the party being busted, it was bound to happen. There were a _lot_ of people there from what I heard."

She nods dumbly, picking at her ruined tights. The skin of her knees is scraped, but there's no blood.

"What's wrong?"

She exhales through her nose. "My grandma died this weekend."

She sneaks a glance at his face, watching how his eyes widen and his lips part. "Oh," he breathes, shaking his head. "I really want to say I'm sorry, but I _know_ how annoying and awful that sounds, but…"

She smiles a little. "Thanks."

Then she finally realizes that they're not on their way to her house. "Where are we going?" she asks.

"My house."

She shoots him a quizzical look, which then turns into a look of pure shock when they reach the _gate_.

"You've got to be kidding me," she says, unable to believe that this long driveway and _huge house_ is where Kenshin Himura, the kid with the shitty car and cheap clothes _lives_.

He smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "My dad was a really successful business man, made a ton of money. After my mom died he got into pottery. Some sort of coping thing, I guess. Made a lot of money from that."

She shakes her head in bewilderment. "Remarkable."

"I hate it – it's too big."

She winces. She can't imagine living in that huge amount of space with just one other person.

"We're waiting until I start college and then we'll move," he adds, reading the expression on her face.

He kills the engine and gets out of the car. She's about to follow him out, but he says, "Stay inside. I'll only be a second."

"Not ready to show _la chamber de Kenshin_?"

The corner of his mouth quirks up. "No. Next time, maybe."

* * *

It takes him about two minutes to come out with looks to be a pile of folded clothes, which he plops onto her lap once he gets into the driver's seat.

She raises an eyebrow. "Sweatpants? Why?"

"For you."

She doesn't question it and they're quiet for the drive to her house.

* * *

She's more than relieved to find her mother's car out of the driveway, which he notices immediately.

"You and your mom aren't on very good terms right now, I take it."

She shakes her head as she steps out of the car, taking the clothes with her.

She lets him in the house and leads him to her bedroom. He shuts the door behind him and looks around.

"Very dull."

She unexpectedly lets out a laugh. "My room in the city is much better," she says as she goes to her lingerie drawer and digs through it. When she finds what she's looking for, she pulls it out, a few pieces falling to the ground, including a red thong.

"_You're the priestess, I must confess those little red panties, they pass the test_," Kenshin quips after a few moments of silence that can only happen when something like this happens.

"_Slides up around the belly, face down on the mattress. One_," she finishes for him, picking them up and placing them back in the drawer. "I'll be back in a second."

She goes into her bathroom and shuts the door behind her, trying not to freak out that someone outside her family for the first time in _years_ is going to see her in cheap, unflattering clothes.

Her hands are shaking as she slips up his old sweatpants, wondering if she should feel disgusting about it. Deciding that it's too fucking exhausting to care, she unzips her dress, letting it pool to the floor as she pulls on the Journey shirt he bought her for Christmas. The neck hole is large and it reveals one of her bra straps, but she's so comfortable right now that she doesn't care. She leaves the plain shirt he gave her on the ground.

Her hands immediately go for her makeup remover, but just like touching a hot stove, she pulls back at once. There's no way she's ready for _that_.

She exits the bathroom and crosses her arms over her chest, one of the sleeves slipping even more to reveal her pale shoulder.

He looks at her, his amber eyes intense and dark for a few seconds before falling back onto her bed. She lets out a breath she didn't realize she was holding in.

"We should talk," she finds herself stating strongly. She climbs onto her bed and sits cross-legged to the right of his head. She pulls her hair over one shoulder, going through it with her fingers, untangling knots.

"I'm sorry I got…_snappy_ with you about your scheming," he responds a bit hesitantly. "I wasn't completely honest when I told you I didn't have feelings for Tomoe. I didn't want to seem so much of a cliché. I don't now, haven't for a while, but I did a long time ago. She was my first…_crush_, if you will. I still have a protective streak there, I guess."

"You _guess_? You wrote me off for her," she points out gently.

"Because all that scheming and planning _ruins_ you. The effects are like a drug – awesome short term results, but they destroy you in the long run."

She finds it funny that they both compare it to drugs. "I guess."

She looks down at his face, which is pensive as he stares at the ceiling. "It was kind of fucked up – I thought maybe if you realized that you would lose me, you wouldn't do it. Like I actually mattered," he explains further.

She screws her eyes shut, her heart rate increasing with every millisecond she's near him on her bed. "You do," she admits so quietly that she's almost inaudible.

He slowly rises and slides up on the bed so his side is almost touching her back.

"We're so very fucked up," he concludes.

Tentatively, she leans back so the distance between them is closed. Her body trembles a little at the direct contact.

* * *

"Did you not approve of the quality of the shirt I brought you?"

"What?"

Kenshin holds up the black shirt that mixed with her black dress on the bathroom floor.

"It's just a plain one, anyway. Besides, wasn't there more meaning in the fact that I finally decided to wear your Christmas gift?"

He glances at the shirt and says, "Shit, it's inside out. I hate when I do that."

He fixes it and holds it out for a moment. She catches the front and loses her breath.

"You know that band?" she asks, feeling a twisted sense of déjà vu.

He smiles at her, his eyes bright. "I snuck into the city on a Tuesday night to see them live over a year ago. _You_ know them?"

"My brother said they only made a couple hundred shirts and a lot of them sold out on those two nights they performed in the city," she replies. "He used to be their groupie, basically."

One of his eyebrows rises. "Really?"

She hops off her bed and walks over to him, taking the shirt of his grasp. "Sano has the same shirt. I used to steal it from him every now and then."

"I can loan it to you, but I expect it back."

She brings it to her chest. "Thanks. For everything."

He shrugs. "We might as well start acting like quasi-friends."

"Will you come to the funeral? My dad obviously won't come and Sano hates my mom too much to go," she finishes bitterly, "I'd…_appreciate_ it," she finishes, as if saying the word is too difficult, which it kind of is.

He breathes out a laugh. "Yeah, of course I will," he responds in all seriousness. She's grateful that he doesn't use a 'it's the perfect excuse to skip school' joke to lighten the mood.

He nods at her in farewell and walks out. When she hears the front door shut, she exhales and closes her eyes. She thinks this is the first time she's ever legitimately had someone who was there for her _just because_; no secret agenda, no façades…

It's hovering on the side of overwhelming for her.

* * *

_There's only one picture of the two of them together: her grandfather was holding her on his lap, large smiles on both their faces; she looked about two or three and for once, she didn't care that the shade of purple of her dress was horrific or that black shoes would've looked better than white. She only felt strange, inexplicable nostalgia for something she couldn't remember._

_But at six, she didn't understand that, so she just cried. It was the only time she ever cried for anyone else._

_

* * *

_

A/N: I think the wait was a little worth it, right? I hope so, anyway.

Please review!

MissGoalie


	24. 03: Funeral

A/N: Sorry this is short - you'll get some longer chapters later on.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**03: Funeral**

_The second funeral she ever went to was when she just turned fourteen and it was one of her father's business associates. She had met him at a few black tie events that she was forced to attend and he seemed pretty nice. But she didn't feel a thing watching his body lowered into the ground._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru picks out an all black ensemble, typical of any day, but for once, she despises everything she owns. She wishes she thought to order something new for her grandmother's funeral, but she hasn't been using her brain quite sufficiently within the past few days.

Her current outfit will have to do.

She takes her time making sure her dress is fitted right, that the cut reveals the right amount of skin of her collarbone and she rubs lotion on her hands for over a minute. Her makeup is applied with extra precision; her eyeliner is painted on, removed, and painted on again until it's absolutely _perfect_.

By the time she's done, she's pretty sure this is her best work to date.

Her phone vibrates by her sink. Unlocking it, she reads a text from Kenshin:

_When are you getting to the site?_

She types back: _Half hour._

She smiles a little at his "_See you then._"

She could do this.

"Kaoru! Get down here. We're leaving."

Yeah, she can. Especially if she focuses on that atrocious scarf that kind of looks like it was ripped up by a rabid animal.

* * *

Kenshin's sitting by his mother's and his brother's grave stones (it still breaks her heart) when Kaoru and her mother arrived.

He stops talking to the stones when he hears them approach.

"Hey," he greets her, getting to his feet.

She surprises him and her mother by wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly for a few seconds. When she pulls away, he doesn't bother trying to hide his gob smacked expression.

She pats his cheek twice. "Get your shit together."

He smirks at her, but his eyes are kind.

* * *

There aren't a lot of people at the funeral. There's just Kaoru, her mother, Kenshin, and a few of the nurses and elderly who worked and lived in the nursing home. Again, she wishes that her brother had the fucking balls to be here, but she takes comfort in the fact that at least Kenshin's with her.

And then it all goes to shit when her mother starts her speech, playing with the scarf around her neck; Kaoru knows exactly what's she's hiding.

To be perfectly honest, Kaoru was planning on giving the necklace to her mother. She wasn't lying when she said she really didn't want it, but the fact that her mother just _wore_ it really pisses her off, just out of pure spite.

The sad thing is, Kaoru would probably do the same thing if she were in her mother's shoes.

Maybe that's why she turns on her heel and just walks away. And when she walks directly to Kenshin's car, she does it because she _knows_ he'll follow her.

She reaches the passenger door and it's already unlocked. Slipping into the seat, she stares blankly out to the silver truck in front of her, waiting for Kenshin to get in the car.

She doesn't move when she hears him get inside, slamming the door shut. "Where to?" he asks, his voice quiet.

"Back to the house."

She wants to start packing.

* * *

_She didn't remember her grandfather's funeral very well and she couldn't remember how it felt; all she cared about was making the Komagata's monthly brunch – the mimosas and croissants were to die for._

_

* * *

_

A/N: Not sure what's going on with FFN, but it's preventing me from posting a new HP story, which I don't approve.

Please review!

MissGoalie


	25. 02: Impulse

A/N: Shit's going down.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**02: Impulse**

_Kaoru Kamiya only had sex once. The only two people who knew this were Yumi and Shishio; everyone else assumes she's still a virgin._

_

* * *

_

Kaoru is strangely calm as she enters her mother's house, her hands steady as she pulls out her suitcases from under her bed, quickly debating which things she can bring and what she can leave behind.

"Uh…Kaoru? What are you doing?" Kenshin asks slowly, deciding to lean against the door and not get in her way, which was a smart choice.

"Packing," she answers, going to her drawers and actually pulling them out so she can dump them into her suitcase.

His eyes are tracking her every move, which annoys her, but she's too busy trying to fit as many of her shoes as she can without overstuffing. Eventually he gets sick of watching her so he closes it for her, leaving her to admire the way the muscles in his forearms flex and strain.

* * *

When he passes the train station, she feels a rush of gratitude and something else for him.

"I feel like you're going to have a psychotic breakdown in the middle of a train," he mutters to himself as he merges on the highway.

She knows she should say something snappy back, but her tongue is heavy in her mouth.

* * *

She likes that he's going above and beyond the speed limit; her blood is thrumming under her skin and she wants, needs –

"Pull over," she breathes out, her voice a bit raspy from lack of use.

"What? Why? We're only a half hour away –"

"Just _do it_."

He rolls his eyes and throws on his signal as he merges off the road, putting on his hazard lights before parking the car. "What the _hell_ do y –"

She grabs his face between her hands and pulls him for a bruising kiss. Given that he's the smart boy that he is, he smoothly cradles her face, angling the kiss lower so he's sucking on her bottom lip into her mouth.

It's rough, full of released sexual tension, and just _hot_; she can definitely get used to this.

She pulls away just a little so she can say, "Sleep with me."

"What?" he breathes, his voice so low and _fuck_, she didn't know he can sound like that.

"In my apartment. It won't mean anything," she supplies because there's no way in _hell_ she's getting it on in a _Honda_, even if it is new.

He's licking his way into her mouth again and just when she thinks this is going to happen, that she's going to have sex with him and just erase that horrible first with another one that's a lot more acceptable, their lips suddenly slow down. The kisses are smoother, longer, more languid; it's a pace she's never really experienced before and she doesn't want to stop now that she has, _is_, now that she knows what really kissing someone _feels_ like.

They break apart and his hand on her face slides away, fingers lingering on her cheek. "It'll mean something," he admits, looking away in a rare moment of insecurity, his heart so clearly visible on his person.

She's breathing heavily and she may be trembling just a little because –

Oh god, it _would_.

She faces forward, her head falling back into the seat as she stares without focus at the traffic going past them.

"Fuck," she says, breaking the silence.

He takes the car out of park and merges into the highway again.

The silence is so tense that she's afraid to breathe.

* * *

He double parks in front of her apartment building, eyeing the structure with undisguised admiration; it _is_ really nice.

She quickly gets out the car and heads to the trunk. He steps outside and is about to help her when she exclaims, "_No_. No. Stop. I got it. Just…stay in the car."

He ignores her and grabs the suitcases from her grasps. "You'd never be able to get these out," he murmurs as he places them on the sidewalk.

"Great. Thanks. _Merci_. Now can you just…?"

She tired, embarrassed, and really attracted to him right now and she needs him to _go away_.

He sighs. "Fine. _Je vous en prie_." He walks back to the driver's side without looking back.

That's a really formal way of saying your welcome (it's for _strangers_) and she really hates it; it stings so much more than she wants it to.

After he turns off her block, disappearing from her sight, the doorman is already grabbing her bags.

"Welcome back, Miss Kamiya," he greets and she chokes on her breath.

"J-just have them brought up, would you?" she whispers, not sure if he can even hear her, but she already inside the building and abusing the elevator button.

She's having trouble breathing again and she's not sure if she's having another panic attack, but her nose and eyes are stinging and –

_Finally_.

The ride to the hope floor is quick and she's bombarded with the inherent smell of _home._ Her chest constricts painfully as she passes the living room and kitchen to the source of blasting music.

Sano's sitting on his bed, his attention glued to the TV in front of him as he plays a video game; she _hates_ him right now.

She doesn't realize she made the strangest choking noise until Sano's eyes are on her, widening to the point of silver dollars.

"Kaoru? What are you…? Are you _crying_?"

She brings a hand to her face, drawing it away to see _oh, yeah_, _tears_. They're stained black and she can feel them on her cheeks as she brings her hands to her hair, collapsing to the floor as she just _sobs_. They sound _frightening_, like out of a horror film, and they involve her entire body as she crumbles into herself.

Sano jumps off his bed and has his arms wrapped around her by the time something in his game explodes and states, "Game Over."

_Game. Over._

_

* * *

_

_Kaoru would give anything to erase that, _everything_._

_

* * *

_

A/N: We're getting close to the end, guys!

Please review!

MissGoalie


	26. 29: Writer's Choice

A/N: No more flashbacks! I know it's sad, I rather liked them and I think a few of you liked them as well, but there's not a need for them anymore.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**29: Writer's Choice**

Kaoru wakes up with her head _pounding_, worse than any hangover she's ever experienced, and her mouth tasting like rotten cherries. She tries to groan, but no noise comes out of her wrecked throat. It's probably from the screaming.

And then she remembers sobbing so hard that she was actually _vomiting_ and her brother forcing her to take Nyquil because he didn't know what else to do.

She cracks open an eye to her alarm clock, which reads half past seven. She was knocked out for a good ten or so hours.

Ever so slowly, she lifts herself to a sitting position, noting her suitcases by her door, which is wide open. She rubs her eyes and grimaces when she feels her dry, crunchy makeup still all over her face.

She must look a fright.

Taking her time, she stands up, not even bothering with the state of her dress, which will probably have to be dry-cleaned a million times before it's wearable again, to walk to her bathroom to shower. When she's done an hour later, she goes into her suitcase and changes into Kenshin's sweatpants and the band shirt he lent her.

She'll have to return that at some point. _Fuck_.

She leaves her bedroom and heads to the kitchen, surprised to find Sano already there; glasses perched on his nose as he reads the textbook in front of him.

But like a sixth sense, he feels her presence and glances up. "Hey," he says, plucking off his glasses to rest them on his textbook, "How are you?" he inquires slowly.

She sighs. "Fine. Bad headache," she answers, her voice scratchy. She clears her throat again and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Is that my shirt?" he half-demands.

"No, it's…someone else's."

"You mean you met someone in the hick town who knows them?"

"Yes."

Okay, she's done handling this situation sober.

She heads to the fridge and first pulls out orange juice. Once she takes out champagne, Sano exclaims, "Whoa there, Boozy, what are you doing?"

"What does it _look_ like I'm doing, Sano? I want to get fucking _trashed_," she snaps, going to the cupboards to find a pitcher to mix the drinks in.

"Grandma's death really fucked you up _that_ much?"

She takes the corkscrew and begins twisting. "Among other things," she admits quietly, the bottle making a _pop_ sound when the cork is released. She pours the champagne and orange juice inside the pitcher, making sure it's evenly split.

"Where's Dad?" she asks, searching for a stirrer.

"We moved it to the drawer by the fridge," Sano points out before answering, "Business trip in L.A."

"Did you tell him I was here?"

"No, he hasn't called."

"Oh."

She stirs for a while and once she's done, she climbs onto the counter so she can reach the cupboard that holds all the flutes and wine glasses.

Sano chuckles behind her. "Sometimes I think you're still fourteen when you do shit like that."

She shoots him a half-glare when she climbs down with two flutes.

"Want some?" She doesn't bother waiting for an answer as she pours the contents of the pitcher into the glasses.

She slides the pitcher into the fridge and places his flute in front of him. She holds her glass out. "Cheers."

He eyes her for a second before muttering, "Fuck it," and saying, "Cheers."

* * *

"I have something to tell you," Kaoru states after her third glass. She's starting to get tipsy and she's ravenous, ripping apart a bagel as she watches him collapse onto the couch, the perfect picture of laziness and half-drunk.

"What?" he asks, sounding sober enough.

"I never believed in that karma shit until now," Kaoru says, playing with the hem of Kenshin's shirt. "I feel like the first part of my life was just…perfect. And then Mom left and everything just went to _fucking hell_. I couldn't catch a break."

Sano snorts. "Please." He brings the glass to his lips and downs the rest of it.

Kaoru narrows her eyes at him. "I've never been _happy_," she tells him, sadly finding it to be true, "Not really. Not for a while. I can't remember the last time when I wasn't…" she trails off, not sure how to finish that sentence. When she wasn't on guard? When she wasn't trying to think one step ahead?

She finishes her glass too.

He frowns. "I find that hard to believe," he says, but it's said with pain; he knows.

"The point is that I'm clearly not meant to have anything good in my life. I've accepted it. I'm fine."

"You just had a major psychological breakdown yesterday. You're not _fine._"

"I'm surprised you knew that term, Sano. And you're _ine-briated_."

"Fuck off. I'm serious. You need help or something."

"No, I know what's wrong with me. I was stupid to try to ruin a relationship and I was _retarded_ for giving my virginity to Shishio and I'm incompetent for trying to involve myself in that hick town."

Oh god.

"Time to break out the vodka," she shrills, stumbling to her feet to get to the liquor cabinets, but Sano is took quick and he's on his feet also, gripping her arm tightly.

"_What_?" he growls.

She shrugs, trying to play it off. "Stupid. Nothing."

"That's not _nothing_, Kaoru! Are you serious? That…_asshole_ actually –"

"It's not like he _raped_ me or anything."

"He's _my _age. It's still disgusting."

"You're two years older than me, so what."

"Still gross."

Kaoru rolls her eyes. "Let go of me. We need something stronger."

Sano clenches his jaw. "I can't believe…so _that's _why you –"

"Sano? Please, shut the fuck up. I can't deal with this right now."

They're in the middle of a staring/glaring contest when the elevator chimes. They whip their heads toward the hallway and then Sano moans, "_Fuck_, I forgot I invited Sozo to play Wii."

_Why does that name –_

"Are you _joking_?" she hisses, "I'm wearing his fucking _band shirt_. This is just –"

"Hey…oh. Did I come at a bad time?"

They whip their heads again to stare at Sozo, who's standing on the other side of the island, his hands in his tight jeans with his hair shielding an eye, his guitar leaning against his leg. He looks so much hotter in person – Kaoru only got to see him in grainy YouTube videos.

Sozo grins. "Nothing pleases me more than seeing a gorgeous girl in my band's merchandise."

Sano shoots Sozo an unimpressed look.

"I'm getting the vodka," Kaoru states.

"Whoa, going hard, are you?" Sozo asks, eyeing the two empty glasses on the coffee table.

"I haven't gotten black-out drunk since the summer. It's about fucking time," she answers flatly, walking away.

She overhears Sozo say, "Why have you never introduced me to this fine creature? She's incredible."

She grins when she finds one of the giant bottles of Grey Goose. Score.

* * *

"S'like…he's a fuckin' _giant_," Sozo drawls, taking another sip of his screwdriver. "But his bass-playing skills are un-_fuckin'_-believable."

"I need to see this guy," Sano says, shakily getting to his feet. "I'm gettin' my laptop."

Sozo beams at Kaoru, who's draped on the couch, so very pleasantly buzzed and just on the good side of drunk. "You seem better."

She grins. "Alcohol's a _miracle_ worker."

He laughs. "We're so pathetic – it's _Wednesday_, for fuck's sake."

She laughs as well. "I should be in school in…Hicksville. Oh, no…"

"Wha?"

"My phone," she whines as Sano comes back in with his laptop.

"Wuddabout it?" Sano asks.

"It's _gone_. It must've fell out in Kenshin-_fucking-_Himura's car."

"Who's Kenshin?"

"Nobody. A guy."

Sano grins as he goes onto the Internet. "You _liiiiike_ him, you want to _hoooold_ him…"

"Grow up," she snaps, considering throwing her drink in his face.

"Log in," Sano tells Sozo, the Facebook homepage open before focusing his attention on her. "Wait…you're like…_shit_, you actually _like_ that guy?"

"I'm not drunk enough to talk about him. And I doubt I will _ever_ be."

"We can find that out," Sano says, taking the bottle of vodka and pouring some more into her makeshift cocktail.

She tips the glass in thanks before taking a generous sip; it's pure vodka.

"Alright, I need to eat," she states, swinging her feet over the couch and walking to the kitchen, not even bothering to try walking straight.

She pulls out some more bagels along with some random things she can find in the pantry and fridge. She dumps it all the table and collapses next to Sozo, her thigh brushing his.

"Look at him," Sozo says, the webpage on some guy's Facebook – Aoshi Shinomori. He looks kind of scary and he's _really tall_.

"I think he has you beat, Sano," Kaoru murmurs.

Sano gapes. "No _fuckin'_ way. When are you gonna meet him?"

"This weekend. He's comin' with his girlfriend, who's looking at colleges." Sozo gasps, "She's _your_ age!"

She rolls her eyes because while she's kind of drunk, she's not _stupid drunk_.

"Actually, it's _so_ funny – he's _so_ tall, but she's _so _short."

"That's kinda creepy," Sano comments.

"Whawuzher name…" Sozo mutters, scrolling down his wall. "_Ah_! Misao Maki…whatever."

It takes Kaoru three full seconds for that to sink in. "_What_?" she almost spills her drink as she leans over, her head resting on his shoulder as he clicks on Misao's profile.

She looks _exactly the same_.

Then she starts laughing, loud and bright. "Holy _fucking shit_."

"Isn' tha…?"

"Fuck yeah it is," Kaoru laughs, twisting the laptop so it's facing her. "Gotta friend her. The little bitch _finally_ decides to get a Facebook."

"Sign me off first!"

* * *

"I've never…drunken…the entire day," Sozo says, dazed and so very _drunk_.

"Some band person you are," Kaoru counters before giggling. "You know what I always wanted?"

"A new person…pers…_fuck_. Can't talk."

"Fuck you," she tells Sano, trying to slap him in the head but ends up hitting somewhere around his shoulder. "I always want…someone to write me a song."

"Your _very own song_?" Sozo asks, trying to bring a chip to his mouth, but keeps missing it. "Like…_my gift is my song, this one's for you_," he sings, still managing to sound on key.

"_Yeah_, like, oh my god. Even though he's gay and probs wrote it for a guy…it's like…_universal_."

Sozo lifts himself up. "I'm gonna play you that song and it's gonna be _for you_."

Kaoru squeals as Sozo crawls on the floor to drag his guitar back to the couch. It takes him a while to tune, and even when he's done, it's not perfect. He begins to play for half a minute before Kaoru realizes something's off.

"That's 'Tiny Dancer'!" Kaoru bemoans.

"Oh, _fuck_. Now I can't stop!"

She pouts.

"_HOLD ME CLOSER, TINY DANCER_!" Sano yells, sounding so terrible that Kaoru and Sozo groan in misery.

"Wow, Sano, I didn't think you could sound any worse."

Kaoru realizes too late that a fourth party has joined them.

"Me-_gumi_, you _came_," Sano cries happily before collapsing into a fit of giggling and snorting at his poor sexual joke.

She purses her lips at him before focusing her gaze on Kaoru.

Kaoru hasn't seen her in a long, long time.

"Is it true?" Megumi asks sharply. "Did Shishio really sleep with you last year?"

Kaoru throws her empty glass in Sano's direction, but ends up missing him by a foot, the glass shattering on contact with the floor. "Fuck you, Sano. _Fuck you_. And your _drunking texting_."

Megumi's eyes widen. "Oh my god," she mutters, looking dazed. After a few seconds, she snaps out of it and grabs Sano's half-fully glass and downs it one go. "Yumi told me you _tried_ to get him to sleep with you, but…" she shakes her head, pouring pure vodka into the glass. "Now that I really think about it, it just _screams bullshit_."

Sozo starts playing again, this time it's a song Kaoru doesn't recognize, or is too drunk to use her brain properly.

"I wonder if Yumi knows."

Kaoru looks at Megumi again. "She knows. She has to," she answers in a low voice.

"It's your word against hers and frankly, you weren't my best friend for a million years."

"Maybe that kind of _loyalty_ blinds you," Kaoru points out, wondering how the hell that sounded so sober. "Taking advantage," she adds with a mumble.

Megumi narrows her eyes.

"I still fucking hate you for what you did," Megumi states acidly.

"Yes, it was really _fucking_ shitty of me, but to be _perf-ectly _fair, I thought you were inv…part of it."

Megumi rolls her eyes. "I hate having serious conversations with drunk people. _Part of what_?"

"_Humiliating me, duh_."

"Wait…_what_?"

Kaoru shakily gets to her feet, making her way to stand in front of Megumi. "Call her and ask."

Megumi laughs through her nose. "I don't think so, Drunkard." But her eyes soften a little. "But it doesn't surprise me that Shishio took advantage of your stupid crush. He was your first, wasn't he?"

"You need to get drunker," Kaoru says, tapping Megumi's glass with a nail.

Megumi sighs. "Fuck it. I have to catch up with all you losers."

"Hey," Sozo garbles, "I've ne'er met you in my _life_."

"Then Sano's loser enough to make up for my lack of knowledge on you."

Five full seconds pass before Sano exclaims, "_Hey_! That was an insult, right?"

"Oh yeah, too sober right now."

* * *

A/N: I have an obscene amount of fun writing drunk people...

Please review!

MissGoalie


	27. 07: Go

A/N: I'm Real Life's bitch right now – so upsetting.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**07: Go**

How Kaoru's not suffering from a crippling hangover is beyond her, but she accepts it as just good luck.

Sozo's cuddling with his guitar on the floor while Sano is sprawled on half the couch while his legs rest on the table. Megumi's not in the room.

She heads straight for her bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. When she enters to kitchen, her hand covering her mouth as she yawns, she freezes.

Yumi's standing in her kitchen, looking flawless as always and Kaoru is wearing sweatpants and a shirt with no makeup on her face; of course this is how they meet for the first time in months.

Kaoru lowers her hand and grins wryly. "_Bonjour_, _ma chérie_." She heads straight for the fridge and takes out orange juice.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Yumi asks quietly, but there's a hard edge to her voice that scares a lot of people.

"You can't _ban_ me from the city," Kaoru points out as she fishes for a glass.

"I did, though, in case you forgot."

"My grandmother died, you heartless bitch. I'm allowed to be with my family for that," Kaoru informs her, keeping cool as she pours herself a glass. She considers finishing off the vodka that's left over and having a screwdriver, but she figures that she can hold out on the liquor for a little bit.

"Oh. My sympathies."

"You can shove them up your ass." Kaoru pauses. "How did you find out I was here?"

"Sakura saw you outside your building."

"Ah, of course."

Yumi narrows her eyes. "You better not leave this apartment."

Kaoru sighs. "Why? Afraid I'm going to run my mouth? Not going to happen." She puts the orange juice back in the fridge and contemplates on what to eat. She thinks that there's at least one more Poptart on the coffee table…

"No one would believe you anyway."

Kaoru rolls her eyes as she walks over to the table, grimacing at the wrappers and food scattered around. Smiling, she finds a strawberry Poptart.

"You've become psychotic – that town actually fucked you up," Yumi says, as if she just had a dawning realization.

"Possibly," Kaoru chimes, taking a bite, "But I thought you'd like to take more credit for it."

"Oh, I do, believe me, but you somehow managed to keep what little dignity you had left and I guess that town got rid of it for me."

"You know what, Yumi, it really doesn't matter. I don't give a shit. What do you want from me now? To admit that I never stood a chance with Shishio and that I was retarded? Yeah, okay, I was. It was dumb." She shrugs, casually making her way back to the kitchen and taking a long sip of orange juice. "You and he were _really_ meant for each other," she adds with a roll of her eyes.

"That's right, we _are_. And the fact that a stupid little girl like you thought you could fuck with that was just _darling_."

Kaoru narrows her eyes. "Well your boyfriend certainly played his part _impeccably_. In fact, I would be so bold as to say that some of it really wasn't _really _acting."

This time Yumi shoots Kaoru an ugly glare. "You _really _don't want to start comparing yourself to me."

"It's not _about_ comparing," Kaoru snaps, "What? Is that what you want done? Do you want _solid proof_ that you're better than me? Fine, congratulations, you won. And you know what? _I still don't give a shit_. I'm done with playing perfect and scheming and _always_ trying to reach this impossible standard that you somehow project." Tears are stinging the back of her eyes and _she can't cry in front of her_.

"_I_ don't need proof that I win this automatically – _you_ needed the wakeup call."

Kaoru throws her hands up in the air in defeat. "_Mission accomplished_," she grits out, "You planned on ruining me and it was executed with finesse. Now kindly _fuck off_."

Yumi smiles, strutting around the island to take Kaoru's glass of orange juice and sip it delicately. "I just love a good win," she sighs.

"And this is where I come in and say the game's not quite over yet."

Kaoru and Yumi whip their heads to the living room to find Megumi walking through, wearing one of Kaoru's dresses and a pair of her heels, which annoys Kaoru, and her bitch-face on.

_Was she…?_

Megumi crosses her arms over her chest and looks down on Yumi. "Funnily enough, I recall your coming to me in _such grief_ that Shishio had slept with Kaoru, going against your cardinal rules as a couple." She shakes her head, a humorless smile on her face. "I didn't think Kamiya here would be telling the truth, but here we are." She quickly glances at Kaoru with a somewhat apologetic expression. Then Megumi focuses on Yumi. "I honestly can't believe you manipulated her into giving her virginity to a guy who couldn't give a fuck. _Nice_. Even a cunt like you got to lose her virginity to someone she loved; it's every girls' _right_. So you know what? Consider us done. See how you can spin that into your favor, _bitch_."

Kaoru's eyes are wide and her jack is slack. _Did Megumi Takani actually stand up for me?_

Kaoru risks a look at Yumi, who's strangely expressionless.

Feeling a bit like her old self, she plucks the glass out of Yumi's hand and drains the rest. "You know your way out, right?"

* * *

"_How did I miss that epic piece of history_?" Sano exclaims before rubbing his temple gingerly.

"I believe you were sleeping."

"I'm going to die!"

"Stop being such a twelve-year-old; get your shit together," Kaoru snaps as she applies her makeup, having showered and changed into a typical Kaoru Kamiya outfit.

She's just considering how to do her eyes when Sozo calls from the kitchen that there's another visitor.

She doesn't need to ask who it is.

She takes a deep breath and stares at the mirror. She still looks strangely naked without her eyes done, but she figures at least she's wearing an Alexander McQueen and she rocks the shit out of it.

She stands up and glances at herself in the mirror once more. It's not awful; she could probably get used to it, _maybe_.

Well, time to face the music.

Shishio is one of those guys who somehow look as if he's in the middle of a photo shoot; he's never caught in an unattractive pose. With his hands stuffed into his coat pockets as he stares across the kitchen through the windows, the sunlight playing on his cheekbones, she's painfully reminded of why she fell for him.

He whips his head and that devilish smirk plays on his lips, the one that gets girls to drop their panties in a heartbeat. The same one that now makes her stomach churn in an unpleasant manner. Somehow she misses Kenshin's because at least she knew he practically had a heart of pure gold.

Ugh.

She saunters into the kitchen, her heels clicking on the floor, which catches Shishio's attention.

"Kaoru Kamiya," he drawls, his mouth almost caressing the syllables.

She merely crosses her arms, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" he asks, eyeing her face.

"No, actually, I recently kicked your girlfriend out of my apartment, so this is perfect."

Sozo gets up from the couch and starts walking to Sano's bedroom. "I should go," he says, but he's ignored.

"Yes, about that…" Shishio starts.

Kaoru rolls her eyes. "What? You're going to defend her honor or some shit? Please. Get the fuck out before I set Sano on you. He's already itching to force-feed you your balls."

"Now that would be such a pity. I recall your enjoying them."

She's very, very pleased she doesn't blush at that. "You better shut the fuck up – you don't want me to tell Megumi to let people know about our little…_affair_, would you?"

His face twists into an ugly expression; it matches his soul perfectly. "People already know that Megumi's on your side, there's no way they'd believe anything that involves you."

She cocks her head to the side in mock confusion. "That may be true, but you've also forgotten that she's the most _trusted gossiper_. She's never spread a rumor that wasn't true. I think they're going to trust that over who's painting her toenails at sleepovers."

"She's right, you know," Megumi adds loftily, stepping into the kitchen.

"You just _love_ your grand entrances, don't you?"

Megumi rolls her eyes at Kaoru. "Hey, I'm helping you out here. I'm owning everyone today. Be grateful."

Shishio scoffs. "Hardly. Look, I don't understand why you two are suddenly _besties_, or whatever, but it's pointless. You're the bitchy, boyfriend-stealing liar," he says, nodding toward Kaoru, "And you're just the slut for _Sano_ and who got an abortion," he directs to Megumi.

Megumi narrows her eyes at him. "And you like to fuck guys."

Wow, so Megumi did believe Kaoru after all.

"Nobody believed that," Shishio snaps, but there's something akin to fear in his eyes.

"Then I suggest you watch your ass the next time you're out – someone's _bound_ to catch you getting your mouth fucked by a random dick," Kaoru retorts.

"Ugh, Kaoru, can you not talk about fucking and dicks? It's making my hango –"

"Shit," Kaoru whispers, watching in horror as Sano's face contorts into pure rage.

"You piece of _shit_," Sano growls, stalking over, but Sozo's quick to grab Sano by his stomach. "Let _go_ of me," he snaps at him.

"Sano, he's not worth it," Kaoru tells him before rounding on Shishio. "Get the _fuck_ out of here before I call security. You mean _nothing_ to me." The wonderful thing is, she finds herself actually meaning it.

It's nice to be free.

"Seriously, can you clear the hell out now? I can't hold him back forever," Sozo adds, struggling to hold back Sano, who's planning a million murders with his eyes.

Kaoru rolls her eyes at the entire display. Boys are just stupid.

* * *

"This calls for a night of getting fucked up," Megumi announces, flipping out her cell phone as she calls her car over to Kaoru's apartment.

"Didn't we just do that?" Sozo inquires.

Sano and Kaoru merely chuckle. "Such a naïve soul," Sano sighs.

Kaoru nods. "We must educate him."

"Sorry that I didn't grow up to be an alcoholic. But I approve of your life choices."

"Come on, dude," Sano says, patting Sozo in the back, "We gotta find you something to wear around here."

"I'll see you guys in a few hours. Text me a place to meet, and it better be a classy establishment or this truce is over."

"Excuse me, the Kamiya family is classy as fuck," Sano retorts haughtily.

Kaoru rolls her eyes. "You totally just made us sound like trashy losers from Long Island. Keep your mouth shut."

Sano gives Kaoru the middle finger.

"See you later, Megumi."

* * *

Kaoru has missed this so fucking much.

She's sitting at a bar with Megumi, Sano, and Sozo, sipping a martini and everything is right with the world.

Fuck Kenshin Himura and his amazing mouth and everything else. She's back in her old life and it's almost like nothing has changed.

(Even though that's so not true and she's been ignoring advances as if she has a boyfriend. What the hell.).

Megumi's laughing at something Sano said, her hand resting on his shoulder and yep, those two are definitely hooking up tonight. Kaoru sneaks a glance at Sozo, who's unintentionally looking emo as he sips his whiskey and soda.

"You look like a cliché," she tells him.

He has the decently to look sheepish at this. "I know, it's so typical, but I happen to like it, so."

"Well, since you _like_ it," she teases, deciding that tonight she kind of wants him because hey, he's fucking hot, his voice is super nice, and his hands look like they'd feel pretty awesome on her.

Besides, she may just feel the tiniest bit of loneliness that she plans on drowning with alcohol, loud music, and boy.

* * *

They skip the line in front of the entrance because Kaoru Kamiya doesn't wait in any fucking line with her looks. It also helps that she and Megumi can pull off a vaguely lesbian-like relationship with their hips tilted toward each other and shooting flirty glances at one another.

"That was actually _brilliant_," Sozo yells over the loud bass as they walk into the club.

"_You_ can't be pulling that shit while _I'm_ here," Sano says to Kaoru, looking disgusted, "I never want to associate you with sex _ever_."

"Oh, shut your mouth, it got us out of waiting in line for two hours," Kaoru responds with a dismissive gesture as they make their way through the crowd to the VIP section in the back.

"I can't believe we're going to the VIP section, holy shit."

"Your shock and awe is adorable and everything, but enough, 'kay?" Kaoru says, squeezing Sozo's cheek briefly.

"Sorry, this reaction is completely normal in regards to your _psychotic_ lifestyle. It's something out of a Ke$ha song."

"That trashy whore?" Megumi demands, scandalized. "We're _so_ much classier than that."

"_We're pretty and sick, we're young and we're bored_!" Kaoru singsongs over the house song playing.

They stop talking after that and just _dance_.

There's free vodka (Grey Goose, obviously) and cocktails and Sano and Megumi have separated from Sozo and Kaoru before the point where they could've blamed this night and whatever happens on the alcohol. Kaoru doesn't know what to think of that and doesn't want to bother because she's feeling _awesome_ with the thrum of the bass in her veins.

A stray thought about Kenshin crosses her mind and _fuck_, that embarrassing _need_ is so much worse when drunk. So she pulls Sozo in and dances close, feeling his warmth and strength keeping her up right and distracting her.

He tastes like Red Bull and the chocolate covered strawberries that are being passed around the VIP section and she licks at his lips, sliding her tongue inside his mouth and pressing even closer. Then without warning, Kenshin comes to mind and she's actually _kissing him instead_; her imagination is too vivid sometimes. Kaoru kisses Sozo (_Kenshin_) deeply with desperate enthusiasm, moaning into it when Sozo (_KenshinKenshin_) slides his hands, warm and solid, onto her hips.

This is juvenile, pathetic, wrong, and just _stupid_, but she

This is too intense for a random hook up but she can't care about that now because _holy fucking shit_, she's actually in this deep.

* * *

A/N: I think this will be my last update for two weeks - I need to focus on finals and whatnot :) But who knows, in my procrastination I could end up finishing the chapter early *sigh* which tends to happen.

Please review!

MissGoalie


	28. 18: Underneath

A/N: Done with finals! I should be better at managing my writing time now.

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**18: Underneath**

Okay, _now_ she has a hangover.

"_Fuck_," she groans out loud, hiding her face into her pillow. They stayed out until half past four until calling a car; she's pretty sure she made out with Sozo some more in her room, but then he left to go to the bathroom or something and she must've passed out.

Awesome.

She gets out of bed to take a shower, finding herself humming along to –

Shit.

_Journey_.

She grimaces as she washes her hair. Is this what happens when you actually kind of like a boy? If so, someone _please_ slip some arsenic in her next cocktail.

"Y'have a nice voice."

She jumps in her vanity chair in surprise. "_Sozo_?"

He groans and she can see him from her mirror as he slowly gets to his feet from the other side of her bed. "You've been here the entire time?" she demands, annoyed that she somehow didn't see him on the floor.

"Yeah…I thought the carpet looked comfortable. It really wasn't," he answers, grimacing with his hands to his eyes. "_Fuck_, I'm _so_ hungover."

"Join the club," she mutters, picking up a comb to slide through her hair.

"Seriously, though, you're…so good."

"What? Singing? Yeah, I know."

"Y'should go on tour with me 'n the guys."

She snorts. "Sorry, I don't plan on going becoming the next Stevie Nicks."

"Instead of a coke problem, you'd just have an alcohol one."

"I could definitely pick up a coke habit, though."

"You've tried it before?"

"I grew up with Manhattan's elite and have been drinking cocktails since I was twelve. What do you think?"

Sozo stares at her blankly. "You guys are –" He claps a hand to his mouth, his eyes blown wide.

"_Run to the bathroom_!" she screeches.

If he vomits on _anything_ other than the inside of her toilet, she's fucking _castrating_ him.

* * *

It's kind of sad how easy it is to sneak into her old private school with nothing more than a plaid skirt and a flirty smile. The skirt isn't even the right _color_.

Kaoru makes her way into the auditorium, which is empty. She's pretty sure right now is fifth period. And she should be in English right now, were she with her mother.

She steps onto the stage, her heels clicking on the wood as she makes her way to the center. Exhaling, she takes in the rows of empty chairs, trying to imagine what it would be like, singing in front of everyone.

For someone who claims to be so confident, she's never actually done much to warrant it.

"_So you think you're lonely. Well my friend I'm lonely too_…" she sings under her breath, wringing her hands in front of her as she strolls in a circle, her nerves causing _fluttering_ in her stomach.

What the _fuck_? She's alone in the goddamned auditorium; she should be singing her fucking heart out.

"_It's sad, oh, there's been mornings out on the road with you, without your charms…_" she belts, throwing her arms out, ignoring the way her voice is just a tad hoarse, but it makes her sound raw.

When she finishes the last "_oh_," she squeezes her eyes shut and breathes, trying to push back the tears in her eyes.

She has to go back.

"Alright, come out," Kaoru calls out, bringing her hands to her face. There has to be someone hiding out in here because that's how it always works.

When she drops her hands and looks up, there's a little girl with a bob standing in the center isle, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

Kaoru exhales before crossing her arms. "Freshman?"

The girl nods.

"Name?"

"Ts-Tsubame," the girl squeaks.

Kaoru bites her bottom lip briefly, staring off at the exit before staring down at the girl. "And let me guess…you've already informed half your contact list about this."

When Tsubame doesn't say anything, Kaoru nods and begins walk off the stage. Tsubame looks as if she's about to make a break for it, but Kaoru pins her down with a sharp glare. So when Kaoru's made her way to the center isle, standing in front of Tsubame, the girl is almost shaking.

"Just so you know, it's not worth it," Kaoru tells Tsubame. "The secret about the entire thing is that _everyone_ is a giant fuck up. They just like to fuck everyone else up to make them feel better about themselves."

Who knows – this girl is probably meant to be a loser and will never rise above to that coveted inner circle. Maybe she'll never have a chance to see beyond the veneer of perfection that Manhattan's elite manages to pull off so well.

And it's such a shame that until _yesterday_, Kaoru still believed it. Those two, the "prince and princess" of Manhattan, coming over and cornering her? That wasn't part of any strategy; that was two scared teenagers trying to keep past transgressions hush-hush.

The illusion is officially shattered.

* * *

"Well, the good news is that this girl actually managed to get a ten second recording of you, so people actually believe it."

Kaoru almost chokes on her sushi. "Excuse me? How is that a _good_ thing? I didn't want –"

"Well, too bad. Should've double-checked the auditorium before you decided to throw an impromptu _Journey _performance. Seriously, what the _hell_? Gross," Megumi interrupts with a roll of her eyes as she stabs a spicy tuna roll with her chopsticks.

Kaoru doesn't bother explaining the song choice. Besides, she'll _never_ live that one down: _oh, yeah, I kind of, sort of, really like this wannabe hipster kid from upstate and we bonded over Journey_.

"The bad news is that you're invited to Komagata benefit for tomorrow and you have to go."

"Uh, _why_? I'm done with all this fuckery. That was basically the _point _of the last few days. I don't have to do shit."

"Yeah, you do. You have to go in a killer outfit as a last _fuck you_ to society. Go out with a bang."

Kaoru shakes her head, taking a sip of her tea. "No way. And I can't find a dress for tomorrow."

"You won't have to – I bought two for this event," Megumi points out, smug.

"We're _not_ the same size," Kaoru retorts, eyeing Megumi's larger chest. That bitch.

"That's what adjusting is for, sweetie."

"Fuck you."

"Come on. Go."

"No." Kaoru finishes her tea and brings her napkin to her mouth. "I'm staying home. And I'm packing. Possibly do some online shopping and drink wine while watching _Love Story_."

Yes, she's embraced her pathetic side.

"Well, if you change your mind."

* * *

"I think I love Megumi," Sano states as Kaoru fully unpacks her suitcase.

Kaoru pauses, holding a wrinkled silk cami in her hands. "You do," she whispers, throwing it in the wastebasket because it's not salvageable.

"Should I ask her out then?"

She sighs, turning around to face him. He's sprawled on her duvet and she wants to tell him to get the fuck off, but she can't bear to as he stares up at her, not unlike a lost puppy.

"I think you actually have to seriously talk about your relationship. Like it or not, you _impregnated _her. It's more complicated than just asking her out to dinner. Also, you slept with her last night. Further complicating it."

"We were both drunk," he mutters, as if it excuses everything.

"And I hope you used protection since you _know_ the pill isn't quite so _perfect_."

"Oh trust me, we did," he grimaces. "Had to throw away my blanket 'cause I missed my garbage."

"Ugh," she whines. She does _not_ need to hear about her brother's _bodily fluids_.

"What about you?" he suddenly asks.

"What _about_ me?"

"You know, that kid. From your new school. Kenshin."

"He's nothing."

"I don't think so. I think you actually like him."

"It doesn't matter."

"It _does_."

"Look, what do you want from me? Do you want to play _matchmaker_ or something? I fucked it up, okay?" Kaoru snaps. "I toyed with him like I was properly taught. There's no way he'd put up with that shit. And he shouldn't."

Sano gets off her bed and shrugs. "Maybe that's enough," he says before walking out of her room.

What the fuck does _that_ mean? Enough for _what_? Enough that she _doesn't_ want to subject him to that kind of shit? Enough that maybe, _maybe_ she wants to change and work on herself so she's not such a bitch? That maybe Kenshin's enough to work with her?

She slams her bedroom door shut to stop her train of thought. What a _mess_.

* * *

**A/N: Two more chapters to go! Yay!**

**Please review!**

**MissGoalie**


	29. 22: Encounter

A/N: This should make some people happy?

Standard disclaimers apply.

* * *

**22: Encounter**

"_Hello?_"

"I e-mailed you my measurements – make sure it's done for tomorrow night," Kaoru tells Megumi before hanging up on her.

Why the hell not – why shouldn't she go to this stupid benefit? It's for charity, after all. Also, she kind of wants to see Yumi's look of surprise at her showing up.

It'll be her last scheme, so to speak.

* * *

"Dad called," Sano says when Kaoru enters the kitchen on Saturday morning.

She groans. "What did you tell him."

"Well, I couldn't _hide_ that his ex-mother-in-law died and you're now crashing here. He says it's cool, though."

"Oh _great_. Like I need his _fucking_ permission to come home."

"Hey, at least he's on _your_ side. I'm trying to mediate this whole fucking situation, so calm down."

"_You_? Mediate? Are you kidding me right now?"

"Dad's pretty much flipping a shit right now and Mom's trying to backpedal. It's a mess. You're lucky you're not in the crossfire."

She groans again. "I'm automatically in the middle of it – it's about _me_."

"For once, it actually is." He sighs. "I know you don't want to go back there…"

"I don't. But I am."

He freezes. "What?"

She shrugs as she finds a box of cereal. "I have to finish out the year."

"Okay…well…good. Because you can't transfer. It's basically impossible with credits and shit. Dad's tried."

"Well that's sweet of him. But no. I know."

"Done running away?"

She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, sure."

* * *

Kaoru is in Megumi's loft, admiring the printed silk chiffon dress she's wearing in front of the wall-length mirror. "Why the _hell_ did you give me _this_ to wear? Red's _your _color," Kaoru asks.

Megumi hums as she adjusts the cross-strap of her navy dress. "I thought it would be a visual statement of our friendship. You wear my color and I wear yours."

"We're friends now?"

Megumi smiles a little. "I think for the sake of simplicity…yes." Then she laughs. "Aw, am I your first friend?"

Kaoru snorts as she turns to look at the back of her dress. "You wish."

* * *

From Misao Makimachi to Kaoru Kamiya:

_OMFG HI KAORU! I can't believe you found me on FACEBOOK! I know that's the point of the whole website, but HOLY SHIT. That's just awesome. How are you doing? Still living in NYC?_

_I'm living with my grandpa and have been for the last ten or so years – I haven't seen my parents in just as long, but we talk sometimes. They send me a lot of money, so whatever! LOL._

_Do you know where you're going to college yet? I'm taking a year off to bop around wherever! I was going to be in Europe the entire time, but I think I might play groupie and tag along with Aoshi, my amazing boyfriend since he's joining a band._

_WE SHOULD MEET UP DURING THE SUMMER! I could come to you! I love visiting the Big Apple!_

_I hope you're doing well!_

_xoxoxox,_

_Misao_

This girl is a weirdo, but Kaoru is reminded of why she loves her so much. She clicks the reply link and begins typing.

At least judging by her profile picture, Misao has a sense of style that Kaoru definitely appreciates; can't take the elitism out of the girl, she supposes.

* * *

"So, how are you going about this?" Sano asks Kaoru as he escorts her and Megumi to the hall where the benefit is being held.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how are you going to let everyone know about what Shishio and Yumi planned? Are you just going to have Megumi send a mass text? Or are you just –"

"I'm not doing anything. It's enough that I own the trump card. They'll never know when I might play it," Kaoru interrupts Sano.

"So, technically, you're never really _done_ scheming, since the ball is always going to be on your court," Megumi points out, the corner of her mouth twitching.

Kaoru shrugs. "Old habits die hard. I think it's an excellent way to end it all."

"But you _are_ going to tell people eventually, right?"

She smiles mysteriously. "Maybe one day when I'm _really_ bored."

* * *

"I'm going out for a smoke," Sano announces before speed walking out.

Kaoru and Megumi stare at each other. "Okay…"

* * *

Kaoru is forcibly reminded how _awful_ these people are; Yumi makes her job to shoot her death glares and Shishio always seems to be around her, as if keeping a close eye.

Her former classmates are confused by her presence, not sure how they're supposed to behave.

Everyone still sucks, so it seems; not that she could expect anything different.

* * *

"Hey, your boy toy is here," Sano informs Kaoru after she finishes a conversation with her former English teacher, whom she used to kind of like.

She narrows her eyes at him. "_What_? Whom are you talking about?"

"Who else? Kenshin! He's here!"

"Okay, first of all, you don't know what he looks like."

"Kinda scrawny kid with long red hair? Yep, he's here. Right over there, actually," Sano quips, pointing to the middle of the room where, yes, Kenshin Himura is standing in a suit, texting.

Her jaw almost drops, but she clenches her teeth to prevent such an unsightly reaction. "How the _fuck_ did he get in?"

"I may or may not have helped him in."

"B-But…"

"Just go over there," Sano interrupts her, grabbing her arm and pushing her forward.

Kaoru gives him a glare before facing ahead, taking a large breath. She can do this. She's Kaoru Kamiya – she will confront this head-on like an adult.

As she closes the distance between them, he finally locks his eyes with hers, causing her to feel lightheaded and…maybe just a little _giddy_.

When they're about a foot apart, he smirks, stuffing his hands into his trousers. "You look nice," he says, eyeing her dress.

"It's not my usual style, but I like it," she responds, her voice not as strong as she would like it to be. She sneaks a glance at the people around her, but no one seems to be paying attention. Yet. "How…?"

Kenshin shrugs. "I may or may not have drove home with severe road rage and bitched out at your mom?"

Her jaw drops because how can she _not_?

"You didn't," she breathes out.

"Not my finest moment, but I think she needed someone to metaphorically slap her in the face."

She can't argue with that.

"Okay…that still doesn't explain everything."

"Your brother has been keeping us updated since you left your phone in my car," he explains, slipping one hand out of his pocket to reveal her cell phone. "I took the liberty of purchasing a new battery for you."

She carefully plucks her phone from his grasp. "Thank you." She opens her clutch. "I'm going to _kill_ him," she mutters when she puts her phone away and snaps her clutch shut. "I should've realized something was wrong when he somehow remembered your name even though I only said it when we were _piss drunk_…"

He grins. "I have to say, I'm impressed how hard you all went."

"It's definitely not for the faint of heart."

"Indubitably."

Her breath catches in her throat because this boy is just…

"I hope you're not running away and staying here," he says, his eyes jumping from her eyes to her collarbone, to his feet, to her forehead and back again.

_Oh_.

"I can't. Credits won't be able to transfer and it's too much work. I was planning on coming back tomorrow anyway," she answers slowly, her head cocked to the side. Did he _seriously_ come down here to convince her to go _back_?

His cheeks actually turn just a little pink, confirming her thoughts. "Stupid. Of course. I just…"

"I'm sorry," she blurts, her knuckles turning white as she tightens her hold on her clutch. "I'm _so_ sorry."

He shakes his head, but he's smiling softly. "What am I going to do with you, Kamiya?"

Oh fuck, tears are filling her eyes and there's _no way_ she can cry now, even though she's ready to squeal and jump up and down like a crazy person.

"So…what now?" he asks. He looks around the room and Kaoru does as well, not surprised at how many people are now watching them.

"Well, we could have an epic kiss and give the people what they want," she suggests mischievously.

"We very well could."

"But…I don't know," she stutters, embarrassed that she can't properly word her emotions.

"Go slow?" he supplies.

"What the hell does that even _mean_?"

"It means whatever the fuck we want it to be. We'll figure it out tomorrow," he answers with a dismissive hand gesture. "So, are we going to make out now?"

"You want to?"

"Sort of. I liked it when we did."

"I did too."

"Okay, so let's go for it."

"How do you want to do it? Do you want me to jump into your arms? Or do you want to lean in and take me by surprise? Or maybe –"

His mouth on hers interrupts her rambling. Okay then, that settles it.

* * *

A/N: One more chapter and then we're finished! Thank you guys for putting up with me. Oh! I have a tumblr now, in case you're interested - it's linked on my profile page; it's the same as my username here :)

Please review!

MissGoalie


End file.
